Skullboys
by bh87f
Summary: My first fanfic. It's Skullgirls with a new male cast that are similar to the female casts. This is also if the Skull Heart isn't only for women. Please review. Disclaimer: I don't own Skullgirls.
1. Presenting: Walker

**Skullboys Present: Walker**

* * *

"Get lost, losers!"

A voice could be heard from inside a warehouse. If one dares to look inside, one would notice all the bodies all over the floor, moaning in pain and grabbing certain parts of their body. There was only one person standing in the middle.

Him, and the guy that was trying to hit him from behind.

He tried to hit the attacker hard with lead pipe in hand, if not for the fact that his jacket suddenly came to life and shot out a tentacle to grab the attacker.

"You missed one." Said not the wearer of the jacket, but the jacket itself.

"Glad you had my back then." The person can now be clearly seen. He looked like a high schooler in your typical school uniform. The noticeable features on him were his bleached, spiky hair, brown eyes, white skin, and black biker jacket.

"Can I eat him, it's been a while since my last feeding." The jacket then revealed an eye that seemed to stare at the punk that tried to knock out his wearer.

"W-w-w-w-what the hell? What the freakin' hell is goin' on with your jacket?" Said attacker was looking at the jacket and its wearer, obviously afraid.

"What's the matter? Haven't seen a parasite before?"

"P-p-parasite? Are you freakin' kidding me?"

The teen then looked at the back of his jacket "And to answer your question, Stalker, no, you can't feed on him."

"Dammit!" the biker jacket, now known as the parasite Stalker, cursed, "I know you don't want to actually kill anyone, but I'm starving here!"

"I thought my energy was enough for you."

"No offense, Walker, but your energy tastes like crap. Though, I wouldn't find it surprising considering all the crap you've done."

"Hey, that was totally uncalled for, you one-eyed freak!" The teen, now known as Walker, yelled.

"Now, THAT was uncalled for, you bleached-haired weirdo!" Stalker's eyes sprouted out and got quite close to his host's face as he yelled.

"Who ya callin' a weirdo, freak!"

"Who ya callin' a freak, weirdo!"

At this point, they were just staring each other down with their foreheads pushing one another, if parasites have foreheads. The attacker, who is now ready to wet his pants, was trembling at the scene. "Can I go now?"

His only response was being flung across the room into a stack of crates.

"Are we done here, Walker?"

"Yeah, we're done. Damn thugs were annoying as hell." Walker took one final look at the mess he made and started to walk out. "At least we got what we came for."

"Yeah, blockheads were actually dumb enough to spill the beans." Both he Walker looked up at the moon "The location…"

"…of the Skullgirl."

* * *

Author's Note: So, what do you think? There's going to be more. The characters are basically going to be somewhat male counterparts of the female cast, only in a different way.


	2. Presenting: Francis

**Skullboys Present: Francis**

* * *

In a random penthouse in a hotel in the New Meridian, it is filled with women in fancy get-ups. However, the center of attention is a man who is around his early adult years on the couch in the center of the room, dressed in a black suit, a red bowtie, white gloves on his hand and a French Beret on his head. The man himself has tanned skin, blue eyes, and without the beret, black slicked hair. However, the most noticeable thing about him is his abnormally long and flexible arms that is wrapped around at least 5 of the women in the room.

"Oh, Francis," one of the women said with a giggle "where are placing those large hands of yours?"

The young man known as Francis spoke in a French accent "Madame, you had no problem with it a few minutes ago. Perhaps I should stop, no?"

"Who said I didn't enjoy it?"

All of a sudden the phone rang. One of the women picked it up and brought to him "Why thank you, my dear." He put the phone up to his ear "Hello?" He heard a certain voice on the other end, which meant he had to send the women home "Sorry, ladies, it appears it is time to go."

A bunch of "Awww" could be heard.

"Hey, don't look sad, I'll make sure to call you all when I'm done with this job, which will hopefully be by then end of tonight." This caused all the women to at least leave without looking sad. After they all left, he spoke to the person on the other end again "Now, what can I do, mon ami?"

"Drop the French accent, Francis." Said the person on the other end.

The man, who surprisingly switched to an American accent, then replied "Ok, whatever you say, Vitale."

"That's boss to you."

"Alright, alright, I got it Vi-I mean boss." Shaking his head, he then replied, "You know, you gotta lighten up sometimes." He proceeded to slump on the couch "So what's the job?"

"A problem that's been a pain in our side for a while. And we need you to take care of it."

"Alright, you got it, name the place," He twisted his arm around many times "And I'll give them the ass-kicking of their life." He unwinded his arm as he said this.

"Glad to hear that your French image didn't turn you into a complete pansy. But a, before you do that, come to the tower for a sec. I need you to meet your partner."

"Partner? Who?"

"The Medici family's star."

* * *

Note: Hmmm, who could Vitale be referring to? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter along with what Walker and Stalker are doing.


	3. Meeting the Girls

**Meeting the Girls**

* * *

The New Meridian has always been a city of mystery. What better way to look for the Skullgirl than to start with a few rumors? Walker, who now has a hood over his head, is relaxing in a café, drinking a coffee and smoking a cigarette "Too bad those punks couldn't tell us much other than a few known rumors in the city."

"At least it's a place to start, bub. Would've been better if we know something, though." That was none other than Stalker, who morphed the hood for his host to hide his identity. Unfortunately, it stinks, literally. "Jesus Christ, kid, do you ever wash your hair?"

"Yeah, about once a month."

"…You're disgusting."

"Says the slime ball that latches onto people's back to suck the life out of them."

"…Touché."

A few stools to the left, a young teenage girl looks like she's being harassed by an older man. "If you really want to see disgusting, Stalker, look at the dude that's making a move on the girl my age."

Stalker secretly opens his eye just a bit "Pedophilic pervert. Humans never cease to disgust me. Think she needs help?"

As soon as the parasite said that, one seemed to pop out of the girl's hat and proceeded to smack the man that had hit on his host "Nah, I think she's good."

"It…can't be."

"Uh, Stalker?"

Stalker's eye had widened and there was hint of shock in his voice "I can't believe it, it is him."

Walker than looked at the parasite "Do you…know that parasite?"

The girl grabbed her hat and proceeded to quickly walk out of the café. "Walker."

"Yeah?"

"Follow her."

"Um, I'm sorry, what?"

"Follow her!" At this point Stalker's eye was bulging and stretching out in an attempt to get his host to move.

"Ow! Ow! OK! I get it! I'll trail them! Will you stop tugging me?"

With the girl up ahead, who now has her hat on again, Walker was trailing her at a pretty far distance.

"You know, you're worthy of the name."

"What name?"

"Stalker."

"…Just shut up and keep following her."

After a few more minutes of trailing, the girl made a turn into an alleyway, which of course, Walker followed her into. However after entering the alleyway, he found that it lead to a dead end and the girl nowhere to be found. "Weird, where'd she go?"

"Don't ask me." Walker looked around and found a hat on the floor, the same hat the girl wore.

"Seriously, where the hell did she disappear to?"

"Right behind you."

Turning around, Walker saw the girl and her parasite with their guard up. "Alright, pal, why are you following us?"

"Ok, look, this might sound weird…"

"Hello, Samson."

The parasite on the girl's head then had his face stretched and faced Walker "How do you know me?"

"That was me, nimrod." Walker's jacket than ditched the hood and had an eye that opened up on the front of his jacket.

"GAH!" The parasite, Samson, seemed to be taken aback by this "S-Stalker!"

"Huh, you know him Samson?"

"Yeah, how about you tell me a little backstory here, Stalker? Who is that, thing?"

"Samson, aka, the dirtiest, double-crossing parasite you'll ever meet."

"Double-crossing?" The girl questioned about her parasite.

"Hey now, this is just a misunderstanding." Samson started to defend himself as his host started to stare at him.

"Misunderstanding my ass! When we were done with feeding those punks, you knocked me out and left me for dead, you son of a bitch!"

"You really did that, Samson?" The girl once again started to stare at her parasite.

"Feeding, yes. Knocking out my partner, no."

"There was no one else in the room conscious other than you and me, and I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't hit myself!" Stalker was once again stretched and bulged out.

"Geez, no wonder you're grumpy. And will you stop pulling me, goddammit?"

"I'm never gonna forgive you, Samson! I've been waiting for a day to get back at you for abandoning me! And now, you're the one that'll crawl with an inch of your life!"

"Wait, Stalker, you got this all wrong!"

"No, I think I got it dead right!" Stalker set out his tentacles aimed at Samson.

"Dammit! Filia, move!" The girl named Filia jumped to the right, barely dodging the Stalker's tentacles.

"Stalker, hang on a sec!" Walker nearly tripped from the amount of tentacles that launched in front of him.

"Listen, can't we talk this out?"

"There's no talking your way outta this one, traitor!" Stalker had his tentacles prepared for another launch.

"*sigh* Guess there's no other way. Alright, time to knock some sense into ya." Samson switched his attention to Filia "Listen kid, mind backing me up?"

Filia gave out a heavy sigh "I don't have a choice, do I?" She raised her fists "Alright then, hey you, why don't you put 'em up, too?"

Walker stared with a blank face "…Are you freakin' serious?"

Stalker stared at his host "It's either that, or getting beat up by a girl. Your choice weirdo."

Walker shifted to a fighting stance "I got it, I got it. And stop callin' me weirdo, freak?"

"You first, weirdo."

And with that, they charge at each other.

* * *

The Medici Tower, home to one of the most powerful mafia family in the world. In one of the elevators, Francis is riding in it to the top while adjusting his suit. After reaching his destination, he casually strolls out of the elevator to meet his boss. However, he finds that besides Vitale is a very beautiful young woman with lovely curves.

Vitale notices him and stands to greet him "Ah, glad you could make it, Francis."

Francis ignores the Medici head and walks over to the lady in his so-called "Suave French Mode" "Hello there, darling. What is a young woman like you doing with an old man like Vitale?"

"Francis." Vitale growled.

"Hey, relax, my friend. Besides, you really do look like you need a lot, and I mean A LOT of work to get any woman believe you're at least in your late twenties, eh, mosieur?" Just then, he felt a really, REALLY, heavy smack from the back of his head, which lead him to slide along the floor and for his head to hit a wall "Ow."

"I suggest you don't talk about YOUR boss like that." Turning around, the suave hit man found that it was the girl that hit him, or rather, the hat she was wearing. He is shocked to find that her hat seemed to grow two muscular arms.

"Heh, you hit pretty damn good." He said switching back to his other accent "Wait a sec, V-I mean boss, is this my partner?" Vitale closed his eyes and nodded his head to answer his question "Well I'll be damned." He walked closer to the lady "I'd never thought I'd be working with a fine woman."

"Even better, she's Cerebella."

Francis turned his head in shock "Wait a sec, the circus star, Cerebella?" Vitale nodded his head yet again "Wow, today seems to be my lucky day. And it seems to be yours as well, circus cutie."

Cerebella giggled "You seem like a nice guy, so I'll tell you something." One of her hat's, Vice-Versa, arms suddenly grabbed Francis and proceeded to hoist him up "Try anything funny, and I'll rip you and that suit into bits."

"Fair enough." He stretched his arms, which surprised Cerebella, which managed to pull of Vice-Versa's fingers as he gently dropped down "Back to the point, what's the job, boss?"

Vitale walked backed to his seat as he explained the problem "Right. Ahem, there's been an annoying pest that's been interfering with the Medici family. We thought that she had been...taken care of."

"She sounds persistent if she refuses to sleep with the fishes."

"Indeed, not to mention she has stolen something of ours a while back, the Life Gem. It is a precious Medici property."

"So, let me guess, our job is to bring it back?" Vitale, yet again, nodded his head "That's it? You interrupted my beautiful evening with a bunch of hot babes, none that are as good looking as you," He said referring to Cerebella "just to take back something from a measly thief? I know she can't die, but can't you just send a few grunts to beat her up and take it from her."

"You think I haven't done that? Every other person I sent gets beaten badly or worse. You and Cerebella are the best ones that are available at the moment."

Francis grumbled something that couldn't be heard. Cerebella stepped forward "Don't worry, Vitale, will get that gem faster than that thief can run."

Francis combed through his hair with his hand and smiled "At the very least, I'm working with such an attractive woman."

I response, Cerebella, or rather Vice-Versa, punched him right in the face, which launched him out the window. Thankfully, Francis grabbed the ledge in time and managed to just stretched down to the pavement. Unfortunately, he still landed hard on his butt "Well, I guess I better go down there and not keep him waiting. See ya, Vitale."

"Cerebella, hold on." Cerebella stopped walking to the elevator and turned her head "This man is one of our very best. He handles jobs just as well as you and Dahlia. At the very least, don't try to kill him."

"I can still hit him, though, right?"

"Of course."

"It'll make things more tolerable, bye." Cerebella pressed the down button and the elevator headed back down.

* * *

Note: More OCs to come in the next chapter. There's going to be a pattern, see if you can figure it out.


	4. Presenting: Mage

**Skullboys Presents: Mage**

* * *

"Come one, come all! Come and see the most amazing tricks that you all shall witness!"

In a park, there is quite a large crowd that has gathered in front of a stage. All of them had heard news of a newbie magician, but despite that, he has performed tricks that are at the level of a pro magician.

"Tonight, this professional rookie will perform tricks that are possible, and impossible!" The audience started shouting the magician's name at this point. What's his name?

"Behold, the Amazing, the Fantastic, Magnificent Mage!" The stage then started to fill with smoke, and within a few seconds, it had dissipated and revealed a boy no more than 13 in a black suit, black cape, white gloves, a top hat, and a masquerade mask on his eyes. In front of him was quite a small table that had a bottle of water, a newspaper, and four glasses on top of it.

There was a lot of chatter in the audience "What? This trick? It's pretty damn old!" "Quiet, it's an improved version of it!" "Improved?" The young magician proceeded to roll up the newspaper into a funnel shape and poured the bottle of water into the newspaper, of course, after showing them it is water.

He then started to put the paper above a glass and poured milk in it, there were a few that were amazed, but not as much. However, when he went to the next glass, what came out was red wine. This is where people started to get really interested. He then went to the next glass and pour what seemed like a blue-liquid soda. The audience awed over this as he pour normal water into the next glass. The crowd was amazed.

With a puff of smoke, everything on the table disappeared and he placed his hat on it. He put his hand in there and out came…a pig? He tried again and this time a raccoon came out. Then a chicken. Then a hawk. Then a cow. He reached in it one last time and out came a rabbit in a top hat and bowtie.

With another puff of smoke, the animals, save for the rabbit, disappear. They were replaced with a giant rectangle box where you can fit a person. On the table were swords. He opened the box to reveal a short-haired blonde woman in a long red dress. He proceeded to place each one of them into the box. When the last sword was placed in he opened the box to reveal that it is empty. And from the side of the stage, the woman appeared.

The show ended a few tricks later and donations to the magician were made. His hat was flying around where the donations were deposited. Little to the crowds knowledge, it was being carried by a tiny being who dressed like Mage, minus the fact it didn't have a body. The show ended and the crowd left. Backstage, the young boy and his assistants were counting the money.

"960, 970, 980. Wow, this is the biggest amount we've got so far." The tiny bodiless being was counting by ten. The woman is smoking and the rabbit was eating his carrot, while Mage is just sitting in front of a mirror.

"Well, we are getting progressively better, Bob." The woman stated after ditching the cigarette for a new one.

"She's right. Our stunts are awesome. Try getting involved once in a while." The rabbit said in a girl voice.

"Hey, you know that if the boss gives me a stunt, I'll scare people."

"Because you don't have a body?"

"…Low blow, Hop, low blow."

"What're you gonna do, Bobby?" Bob then flung at her head with full force "Hey, that hurts, you little prick!"

"You started it, fuzzy ears!"

"Neat freak!"

"Big foot!"

"My, my, you two are very annoying." The woman said after huffing another puff of smoke.

"SHUT UP, LADY!" They both yelled in unison.

"Why don't all three of you shut up?" The young magician yelled in a loud boyish British accent. All three of them apologized in unison "Hm, it's okay." He took of his top hat and mask to reveal a slick blonde hair and blue eyes. "We're leaving soon, so get ready, Bob, Hop, Lady."

"Got it."

"Sure thing, boss."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, did you get any new information, Bob?"

The little being floated up towards Mage "Nope, nothing new or useful."

"I see." The boy closed his eyes, as he thought to himself. "_Nothing that will help find the Skullgirl. Dammit, Marie, where are you?"_


	5. Presenting: Arselite

**Skullboys Present: Arselite**

* * *

On a certain tanker far off the Canopy Coast, on board are men trading gunfire's and fists. One side was a group of terrorists planning to wreak havoc in the Kingdom, and on the other was the Black Egrets. But these Egrets were the best of the best, the elites of elites. They are the Shadow Squad, forces that deal with threats before they're even recognized, that is why so few have heard of them.

The squad only consisted of a female sniper with sleeveless Egret shirt, Scope, who is afar and not missing her targets once, a demolition man with a special black and red Egret uniform and a grenade launcher, Dynamite, who is blowing up any enemy within the proximity, Heavy Hank who only has his overall pants and firing his baby, a gigantic miniguns he named Felicia, and Arselite, the arsenal man and leader of the Shadow Squad in a darker Egret suit and a metallic right arm, as well as two combat knives in each hand. He was cutting them down with his knives, and his robotic arm shifted into different weapons to gun them down and blow them up. The only thing similar about them are the gas masks they wear.

By now, the elites are getting the upper hand and gunning down the terrorists. "Damn it all," muttered one of the terrorists "how are we losing to only four people? Screw it, RETREAT!" And with that, most of them started to run for the boats and copters on deck.

The Elites were cheering as they watched how the terrorists flee for their lives. "Yeah, that oughta show those wusses, ey, chief?" Hank said.

"No doubt," Scope was on her way to her squad "after all, that's what happens when you mess with the Shadow Squad, the best damn squad in all of Canopy Kingdom. We better get back, I'm missin' my shows."

The group is now in their copter and relaxing. "Dynamite," Arselite called out to the demo man "did you plant them?"

Dynamite looked at his leader with excitement in his eyes and pulled out a detonator "Yeah, so can I?"

"Blow it."

And with that, Dynamite pressed the detonator and the whole tanker went up like the 4th of July, followed by a bunch of crumblings and sinkings "I love my job."

The leader pulled his right arm close to his mouth, as if to speak to it "This is Arselite of the Shadow Squad." Under his mask he gave a little smirk "Mission accomplished. Heading back to base." All that remained of the tanker were four destroyed pillars and a bunch of debris floating in the ocean.

* * *

Notes: Once again, we will follow what happens to the two previous OCs, as well as what happens with these ones.


	6. Meeting Familiar Faces

**Meeting Familiar Faces**

* * *

"Transform!"

A few minutes past midnight, there is a brawl going on, which surprisingly doesn't wake up anyone sleeping nearby for some reason. Right now garbage cans are scattered all over the place, walls are cracked and broken, and the dumpster is out on the street. Inside an alleyway, Walker narrowly misses Filia's Gregor Samson and retaliates with a spiked fist coming straight at her. Samson manages to block it in time but it still caused pain to him and flung him and his host back "Damn, I forgot how tough he was!"

"You know, you never did really show me what you got, stalk eyes." Walker was moving his neck around as he said this "Guess those thugs weren't tough enough."

"Trust me kid, I've been itching for a good fight."

"That makes two of us." He then looked at Filia "Though, it's kind if unexpected to be fighting a girl for a great challenge."

"It isn't her, it's more of Samson."

"Who cares, I'm having a blast." He cracks his knuckles "Time for a major ass-kicking." He charges at Filia again.

She jumps away in time as Samson starts lunging his tendrils at Walker "I don't like the smile on that kids face. He seems to be enjoying this."

"Why is that?"

"Either he's psychotic or he's a fighting freak. Either way, we should be careful."

"Hey, you gonna talk or what?!" Walker called out "Come on, fight is just getting good."

"Don't forget I'm here, bastard!" Stalker yelled at Samson.

"Come on, we aughta talk about this."

"Nice try, coward!" He fires an energy ball that's speeding its way to Filia. If she didn't duck, it would have taken her head off.

"Wow, that was close." She turned around in time to see a fist coming straight at her. Samson blocked in time, which resulted in another pain for him. "And so was that!"

"This ain't getting easy for me, kid." Samson takes a glance at Stalker "We should bail."

"You aren't getting out of here just yet, Samson!" A sawblade forms and is flung at Samson. Samson forms wings and jumps up in time. Filia then curls up a Samson turns them both into a spiked ball. Stalker forms a shield on Walker's arm as he sticks it into the ground. Both of them clash as one is trying to push the other. This results in both of them being pushed back, Filia out on the street and Walker into a wall.

Stalker opens his eye as he forcibly takes control of Walker's body and walks over to Filia. A claw forms on his arm "Don't worry, it's the scum I'll kill." He was about to thrust into Samson before Samson got up and grabbed onto Walker's waist.

"Stalker, stop! Just listen to me!" Samson pleaded.

"Why the hell should I?!"

"What if I told you the Skull Heart was involved?"

"There's nothing you can-huh?" Stalker eases up a bit.

"Yeah, that's right, we're looking for the Skull Heart. If we cooperate we can probably find it easily."

"Hmm…"

"Look, what I did was never intended." Samson 'stands up' as he says this "Let's start over, eh, partner?"

Stalker stares at Samson for a while before speaking up again "Fine, but try anything funny, and I'll give your host a haircut."

"Deal." They shake tendrils as their hosts start to stir.

"Uh, Stalker, can you not take control of my body without my permission?"

"Change of plans, bub, we're going with them."

"Huh?" "What?" This confused both hosts. It was Walker that then spoke to his parasite "I'm sorry, what happened to all the 'you're dead, traitor' deal? I thought you were trying to rip his head off, if you guys have heads."

"Get this, they're looking for the Skull Heart as well."

"Wait, what?"

"I need to find it," Filia looked down as she spoke up "I…have amnesia."

"Amnesia?"

"Yeah, so I was looking for the Skullgirl hoping I could…"

"Get your memories back." The air was silent for a while "Alright then, if you know where the Skullgirl is, I'm willing to take the trip."

Filia was shocked to hear this. The man whom she, well Samson actually, had tried to kill was willing to join her on her trip. "Well, what do you say Filia?" Samson faced his host "Should we let them?"

Filia looked at Walker for a while, and then she smiled and nodded her head "Okay then, you're in."

Walker extended his hand "I'm looking forward to working with ya."

They both shook their hands.

* * *

Inside a limo that was on its way to a Medici hangout point, it was a party inside. Particularly because there were tons of women inside and one womanizer that all the women were falling fall. Well, except for one women. She was annoyed that the limo was crowded and the fact that she was being squished while viewing the man brainwashing all of the women in the car.

"Come on, madame," the womanizer, Francis, in his Suave Mode called to the woman "take it easy."

"I would if I wasn't being squashed." Said woman, Cerebella, was fidgeting around in her seat as some of the women tried to sit as close to the circus beauty.

"Enjoy it, I thought you loved the fans."

"Of course I do, I just don't like being squashed by them." She looked around the limo before asking the fake French "Why did you have to pick up all of them?"

"My beautiful evening was ruined. I was surrounded with a lot beautiful women as far as I could see. They enjoyed my company and I enjoyed their's. But alas, work comes first, you know?" This was followed up with responses like "Wow." "What a diligent man." "I wish I had a boyfriend like that." and a rolling of eyes from Cerebella.

"Oh brother." She looks out the window and sees that they are nearing their destination "Sorry ladies, this is our stop."

Sounds of disappointment filled the van before Francis calmed them down "Don't worry ladies, after all of this is over, why don't you come to my penthouse?" The women all said yes "That's what I thought. Driver take these women to their homes." He was leaving the car "Oh, and give them my number."

The limo drives off with the women waving at both Francis and Cerebella. The circus star then turned to the Suave deceiver "You know, you disgust me."

"What's the matter?" Francis spoke in his actual accent again "Afraid that a few of those women might take me away from you?"

Cerebella bursted out in laughter. She then calmed down and wiped her eyes "In your dreams, pervert."

"Pervert? I've never been insulted." Francis held his heart as if Cerebella had hurt it, which she didn't believe. They both then looked behind them to see a club that is actually controlled by the Medici "So, our informant is here? Any idea what he looks like?"

"Tall, fancy, sunglasses, and mysterious. A better character than you."

Francis switched back to his French mode "Madame, I am hurt." His only response was getting stomped on his foot "Ouch, you can really hurt a guy despite your beauty."

"I think I'll take that as a compliment." They walked inside to start their job. Little did they know, they were going to meet someone else more reliable.

* * *

Somewhere in a town, there's a big commotion. The streets were a mess, buildings were partially destroyed, and men were lying on the ground unconscious and bruised. In the midst of this, there was a group of misfits causing trouble, but they had a reason. "That'll teach those maroons to ambush me."

"You said it boss."

"No one messes with us." In the middle of the street was a cartoonish band of thugs, there were two bomb like beings, one big and one small, a tall, walking bullet, a living weight, and a little girl, their leader, with a bird on her head with the same outfit as hers. These were none other than Peacock and her cronies "What do you say we beat 'em up some more, for laughs?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

They all turned to find another gang, Mage, Bob, Lady, Hop, and two floating cards, again, one big and one small.

"Oh yeah," Peacock walked up to the magician "why the hell should I listen to you, Houdini?"

"Because if you don't," A blade then spurted out Mage's wand, which caused Peacock to stop "I'm going to have to beat you."

"Yeah, just try." Peacock brought out her gun where a blade came out.

Avery jumped up onto Peacock's head "Yeah, no one can beat our boss."

Bob then floated onto Mage's hat "Oh yeah, well no one can beat OUR boss!"

Mage chuckled as he took his hat off "This will be interesting."

Peacock took a hold of her hat "I'm with you, buddy."

Mage's hat was aimed at Peacock with Bob on the hat, while Peacock's hat opened up to reveal a metallic bird's head with a laser in it's mouth with Avery on the control panel behind it.

"Argus-" "Magnificent-" The bird charged the laser and the hat charged the energy inside "AGONY!" "MAGUS!" At the last minute they both fired.

* * *

The Shadow Squad's copter landed on the roof of the Black Egret's headquarters as the squad was greeted with welcomes and congratulations.

"We knew we could-"

Arselite raises his hand at the Egret "Soldier, before you finish, don't you get tired of saying that?"

"Of course, but sir, I respect you so much."

Arselite shook his head at this "Based on how many times you've said that sentence, I already know."

Inside the building the squad was about to enter the mess hall when they were stopped by a panting soldier "Commander...Arselite...I..."

"Hold on, catch your breath there for a sec, would you?"

The soldier inhaled deeply before continuing "Sir, there is someone in your quarters that would like to see you."

"Who is it?"

"Lady Parasoul."

If one could look under Arselite's mask, they would notice that he is sweating really hard and had a face as red as a tomato. "M-M-Milady?! In my quarters?!"

Scope then walked to her leader without her mask with her short blonde hair on her head and her green eyes on her leader. "Chief, relax, she's like any other women, only she has the power to remove you of your status and possibly your life."

"Thanks, Scope, I feel SO much better." He said as he stared at the sniper, with which she replied "Anytime."

Arselite was on his way to his quarters with his mask by his side. Now he is shown to have a buzzcut black hair, red eyes, and signs of a stubble on his chin. He stopped outside his door, he took a deep breath and thought to himself. _She's just like any other women, except she is of a higher status and the ability to-Dammit, Scope!_

He had his hand on the door knob and was hesitating. It was a while before he heard a familiar voice. "This is your room, you know? You don't have to hesitate."

He opened the door to find the leader of the Egret's herself sitting in his chair by the desk where he would often analyze documents. To his right, there was his bed, where it was still a mess from when he left. To his left was his wardrobe, and inside were his uniforms and casual clothes should he ever get a break, which is nearly never. "Forgive, Your Highness, I'm about nervous since we last talked to each other face-to-face."

"That was last week." Parasoul stated as she stood up from the chair.

"Yes, like I said, a while." He straightened his posture before continuing "So, to what do I owe this honor?"

She walked up to him, which made Arselite a bit nervous, since he does have a bit of a crush on her. "Do you know about the Skullgirl?"

"Only that she's bad news."

"So you've been informed, good." She took out a picture of the Skull Heart "For weeks, my team have been going around the Kingdom searching for any sign or traces of the girl. And we've found her." She removed the Skull Heart picture and a picture of a little girl with grey hair, skull hairpins, and dressed in a maid outfit.

Arselite took a closer look "That's her? She seems a bit too innocent."

"That's what I though, but all signs indicate that she holds the Skull heart's power." She then walked back to the desk. Arselite accidentally caught a glimpse of her moving her bottom while she walked and turned as he blushed "But this might be a bit big for me to handle."

Arselite turned back at her "And you want help from my Squad?"

"Exactly." She turned "I want to end this soon, I need to bury the mistakes my mother made. And I need your help." She paused for a moment before continuing "I understand if you need to rest, but this must be dealt with soon. Please."

Arselite's eyes locked with hers as he then enthusiastically replied "Anything for you, Lady Parasoul!" He blushed as he recognized how he said it "I mean, it is a job of an Egret to support the Princess."

Parasoul smiled at him "Thank you, Arselite. I see I've made the right choice of making you the leader." She walked out the door "We will move in half an hour. Get your troops ready."

"Yes, ma'am."


	7. Presenting: Kage

**Skullboys Presents: Kage**

"What happened?!"

A man ran into a room with a desk at the end of the room and a couch and a table in the middle. There was window behind the table that showed the night of Little Innsmouth. There's a closet to the left of the desk and a bookshelf to the right. But the main focus was a dead man in the chair behind the desk with a kunai sticking out of his head and his blood covering his face.

"How…how did this happen?!" The man turned to the one on the right "Weren't you supposed to guard the door?!"

The man he was talking to held up his hands "Hey, I was guarding the door and I didn't sleep a wink or left for a bit! I was awake and guarding the door!"

"Then how did this happen?! He wouldn't have been able to throw a kunai at his head!"

"Like I know!"

"Get the men to search the whole building!" He looked at his ex-employer "The body still looks fresh, so he could've been killed not too long ago."

"Got it!" Both men ran out of the room and shut the door behind it. Little did they know, a man suddenly rose out of the shadows in the corner.

"They are very foolish to try and search for me." The man looked like a typical ninja. He had a black, sleeveless shinobi suit, wooden clogs, fingerless gloves, a black scarf covering his mouth, and a belt around him that carried his gear. The unusual thing about him were the dog ears sprouting out his brown hair that were the same colors as his eyes.

He went straight to the window and jumped down into the waters. After swimming for some time, he emerged near an alleyway and quickly ran into it. He stopped and took of his scarf. He looked at it as he seemingly spoke to himself "I still have nothing new on the Skull Girls location. Only that she once wreaked chaos in the heart of Little Innsmouth. I shall proceed to investigate there." He turned to his shadow "Send this message to Sensei." A shadow version of him popped out as it ran towards a certain direction.

He jumped onto the roofs as he looked into the distance "How much more must I kill until this mission is done?" He placed his scarf back on as he jumped from roof to roof to his destination.


	8. Presenting: Spike

**Skullboys Presents: Spike**

* * *

_I have the boy._

_No, please, leave him alone!_

_Mommy…_

_Take anything else, just not our son!_

_Daddy…_

_What should we do with them sir?_

_…Bring them; we could use a few guinea pigs._

_*gasp*_

_Hands of my wife-GAH!_

_Mommy, Daddy!_

_S-son…_

_No! Spike!_

"Gah!"

A young teen in a black metallic light armor was snapped out of his mind. He wondered as to what he had heard as he stood up from the rooftops "What the hell, who were those voices? And why am I even thinking about them?" He puts his hand over his head "Damn, it's the third time."

"_Project, report_." A static, robotic voice was coming out of the inner radio inside his black helmet. Nothing special about it other than the giant glowing red circle in the middle front of it.

"Reporting, and don't call me that, I have a name, you know?" The boy replied annoyed.

"_Of course, Porcupain._"

"*sigh* No, it's Spike, my actual name."

"_It is required that we refer to you as your codename…_"

"To ensure the privacy of the labs and whatnot, I've heard this crap like a hundred times."

"_Then you don't need to be reminded again_." The boy sighs and looks at a puddle made from the recent rain.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, Brain Drain." He stares up at the night skies and hesitates before asking "Hey, do you know anything about me?"

"_This again?_"

"Help me out here, will ya? It's a repetitive question but I gotta know, where did I come from, who do I know, who was I originally? The only thing I know for certain is my name, Spike."

"_Unfortunately, I don't have all the answers._" _As always _"Just do your job."

"Of course, Father." Spike switched off the communication "Might as well get this over with." He mumbled to himself as he suddenly turns invisible.

* * *

Note: Hooray, more OCs meeting the original cast, oh, and expect a special little meeting in the next chapter.


	9. Meeting Old Friends

**Meeting Old Friends**

* * *

"Here we are." Walker proclaimed as they stared at the bright, two-story club across the street named the Posto Fantastico. Both hosts and parasites agreed that the best place to look for the Skull Heart would be by rumors, and the club was the best place to start.

"Makes sense, a gathering of scumbags and a few not-so-good secrets told by attention-loving rats." Samson stated.

Walker started to walk there with Filia behind him "How'd you think I got famous?"

"Wanted posters?" In response to that, Walker started grabbing a part of Stalker tightly and stretched it hard "Owowowowowowowow!"

"Care to make that comment again, freak?" Walker asked as he let go of it. Filia and Samson just sweat-dropped at this.

"You guys really don't get along, do you?"

"Not in the slightest."

They went to go into the club before being stopped "Hang on, you can just go in there without cutting line!" They turn to see a tall man in a dark trench coat and sunglasses "In fact, you don't look like you should enter this club at all."

Walker was annoyed by this "Oh yeah, says who?"

"Me, the guy that's about to kick your ass if you don't leave."

"Listen buddy, you do not want to tick me off."

"Why not, weirdo?" His response was a gigantic fist colored black aimed straight at his face, which then sent him flying across the pavement.

"Anyone else feel like acting tough?!" They all scattered. "Didn't think so?" He walked to the door and stared at the bouncer.

"Is your name on the list?"

"Don't need to be."

"Can't let you in if your name ain't it."

The clipboard the bouncer was holding then had a black spike coming out of it "Oh look, there's our name."

"Uh, y-y-yeah, I see it, go in."

The black spike then formed back onto Walker's sleeve as they entered "Gotta make sure others know their place if you wanna come out on top."

"You make it look too damn easy, kid."

"Yeah, I don't think I can pull that off." Filia replied. She looked around and saw that club didn't look like much, having only a small dance floor in the middle surrounded by tables and a bar at the end and a few billiard tables to the side by the toilets. "Are you sure this is where we should get our info?"

"Dirty place, dirty rumors." Walker smirked "Like I said, how'd you think I got famous?" They walked on over to the bar and the bartender walked on over.

"Hey, Walker, who'd you punch to get in this time?" The bartender has a pale skin and blonde hair. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Tall jerkwad that thought he could take me on. Get me the usual."

"Certainly, and what about her?"

Filia was about to talk before Samson stated "Get us one of your best drinks."

"Samson!"

The bartender whistled at this "Another parasite, just like you, huh, Stalk?"

"Hurry up with the damn drinks already."

Some time later, they bartender arrived with the drinks. Walker gulped his down as Samson drank his. "Say, barkeep, I gotta ask you something."

"Shoot."

"It's about," he looked and dropped his voice into a whisper "the Skullgirl."

"Her, huh, why the interest all of a sudden?"

"Stop asking questions and answer mine, dammit."

"Ok, ok. Look I don't know much, but I heard that guy over there might know something." He pointed to a familiar suited man at the billiards with another familiar and more known person sitting at a table close to him.

"Well I'll be damned." He thanked the barkeep and walked over with Filia behind him while Samson was still drinking the glass of booze. He leaned in on the table as he asked the man "Hm, five balls left. Tch, I could finish this in two turns."

"Only two?" The other man replied, "I could finish this one, watch." He hit the cue ball and it hits them all as they go in "I want whatever we were betting."

"In that case, a fist to your face."

"Then bets off." He lifted his hat and stared at Walker "Last time I checked, you were near the border of the Kingdom."

"And last time I check, you were in a pool of women, Stretch."

Filia looked back and forth between the two "Wait, you know him?"

The other man scoffed "Know him, I'm the one who saved his reckless ass."

"You got women all over your brain or something, it was me who saved you, and it was your ass that was reckless."

"Let's agree to disagree, eh, mon ami?" He suddenly switched to the French accent.

"Drop the accent before I dropkick you."

The other man chuckled "Nice to see you're still violent, Walker."

"And I'd say it's nice to see you're still a French charmer, but I'd be lying."

The suited man then turned to Filia "And who is this young lady?"

Filia blushed at this "Uh, my name's Filia."

Samson then dropped his drink "And I'm Samson, the guy that's gonna throw you outta the window if you lay a finger on her."

"Oooooh, violent, aren't we?" He put his hand out and switched to a French accent "My name is Francis, mademoiselle."

He then got hit in the head by Walker, and replied with an angry look "I warned ya, didn't I?"

The woman who was silent the whole time finally spoke up "Good thing someone else agrees with me."

Walker turned to her "Gest pretty damn annoying, doesn't it?" His face then turned to an expression of shock "Wait, aren't you-"

"Finally notice, huh?"

Filia then turned to her and she became shocked as well "You're Cerebella!"

Said circus star twirled her hat on her hands as she looked at both of them "The one and only! If you're looking for autographs, don't hesitate to ask."

Filia walked up to her while pushing her fingers together "I-i-i-in that c-case, w-w-would you…"

"Not now, we're waiting for our informant."

Walker snapped out of his trance "Informant?"

"Yep, why else would we be in a crappy place like this?" Francis stated while holding his nose "The smell is bugging me out, and my suit is at risk of being dirty." He looked at the clock "Odd though, he should be here by now?"

"He actually shouldn't be hard to find, he's the only one that's dressed in a trench coat that would appear here." Cerebella stated while getting out of her seat.

Walker and Filia then looked at each other before Filia spoke up "It wouldn't happen to be black, would it? And wearing sunglasses""

"And has the attitude of a jerk?"

Francis and Cerebella were surprised at the accurate description "Yeah, how do you know?"

Stalker opened his eyes and spoke "Walker whacked him to the corner of the street."

Francis jumped back and so did Cerebella "Dammit, can't you warn me the next time you're gonna open up like that?" He looked back at Walker "So you punched him hard, huh? Knowing you, he wouldn't wake up for a while. What else did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear, that's the only thing I did."

"Unless you count breaking the bouncer's clipboard." Walker had it. He punched Stalker right in his eye, who in response, sprouted two tentacles and choked Walker.

Filia stood back "Should we help?"

"Not unless you're looking for a death wish."

After the two finally calmed down (Don't ask how) Francis asked "So what now, our informant's probably gonna be out for, what, a day, and we really need to get our target."

"What are you looking for?"

"More like who." Francis took out a picture of a female cat-human hybrid "Name's Nadia Fortune. Apparently she took something from us that seemed to be important, not to mention, she's been a pain in our asses."

Walker smirked at him "Really, I thought you never hit women."

"I won't, she'll do it." Francis pointed towards his partner.

Cerebella put on a face of annoyance "Nice, leave all the work to the lady. Guess that proves you're not much of a man."

"She got ya there, Franny."

Francis glared at him before turning back at his accomplice "I, unfortunately, cannot hit women. It is against my code."

"Code?"

"My gentleman code, which requires hitting on women, not actually hitting them."

"Sounds pathetic." She replied .

"A dumbass code if you ask me." Walker then said.

"It sounds like the crappiest crap I've ever heard. *hic*" Samson went.

Filia turned to her parasitic partner "Samson, are you already drunk?"

"How dare you accuse me kid-Whoa, when did we split in two?"

Walker looked at him confused "I thought he only had a glass to drink."

Samson spoke up again "Yeah, and a few other free drinks went by."

"You took them?!" Filia yelled.

Francis looked around "Hey, guys, I think they already noticed."

Walker then grabbed Filia by the arms and dragged her out as Francis did the same with Cerebella "Dammit, I'm not gonna be caught for the theft of a few glasses. That's lame. I'd be a laughing stock."

"You think I asked him to take them?"

"Hey lovebirds, speed it up, I think they noticed."

Both hosts blushed before Walker replied "Why would ya say that?"

Cerebella pointed behind them "They're charging at us."

True enough, some men went running at them for their drinks being taken. All four ran out of the club and away from it. After minutes of running, they hid in an alleyway.

Francis was the first to speak "Remind me never to bring him to bars."

Walker took a peek out of the alleyway "I think we lost them."

"Wait," Cerebella got the attention of both men "why couldn't I just stop them? They would know me."

"Nah, by looks of it, they were too drunk to recognize you."

Filia caught her breath and asked, "How would you know?"

"I've gotten in enough bar fights to know the signs." He said as if he was proud with that.

"Kid, that ain't a thing to be proud of." Stalker told him in an annoyed tone.

Walker ignored him and walked over to Francis "Now that we're in the clear, how about a deal?"

Francis raised an eyebrow and the girls looked at him "A deal?"

Walker nodded "Yeah, why don't we work together and we both might find what we're looking for."

"And what is it that the both of you're looking for?"

Both Walker and Filia said at the same time "The Skullgirl."

* * *

If the town wasn't a big enough mess before, the brawl taking place made it possible for it to be in an even bigger heap. Buildings were practically torn down, whatever remained of any stall were a few bits of wood, and the ground was covered with cracks that made it look like it was about to break at any second. And the cause? Two powerful kids.

"Avast!" The girl, known as Peacock, fired a cannonball at the boy, known as Mage. As the cannonball was about to touch him, he swung his arms and the ball hit against something and cracked. "Aw crap."

He swung his arms again and this time three green swords appeared out of thin air and flied towards Peacock. She barely dodged them in time as she rushed in with her gun. She tries to stab him with it as a blade comes out of its barrel. But when she looked up the young magician was standing on the blade with his own extending out of his wand and up against her neck. She saw him smiling, and she didn't like that.

"Why the hell are you smiling, pal?! Don't think this is over, you just have a slight advantage."

He was still smiling for a while. He then jumped off and landed a few feet away and held his top hat. "I'm surprised that you're capable of such things. Then again, you did watch too much cartoon."

Peacock was shocked to hear this and wondered why this boy knew how much she enjoyed cartoon slapstick and violence. "How do you know that? You some kinda magical stalker?!"

Mage chuckled at this "You always were the rude and imaginative type, Patricia."

She had enough. She rushed, grab the boy by his collar and pinned him against the wall. She held her gun at him "Okay, first you taunt me, then you say things about me only a few would know, then you say my name and talk about my personality! Better tell me who you are, or you won't be able to jump and land on this blade this time."

The magician reached up to his head "You still don't recognize me, huh, Pat?" He took off his hat and mask. "Sorry about all that brawl, just wanted to test you in the current state you're in."

Peacock has never been so shocked in her life. OUt of all the other twists she's seen, this would be the most shocking for her. Before her, unmasked, stood Mage, aka, Max, her childhood friend. She did the first thing she could think of after seeing her old friend after all these years.

She poked him.

She kept poking at his nose and Mage showed signs of annoyance. "Wow, this ain't no trick, is it?"

"No, it isn't. Now can you please stop poking my nose?"

Peacock closed her eyes and smiled "Nope."

Mage was really annoyed at this. But at the same time, he couldn't be more happy to be reunited with an old friend of his. Eventually he got a hold of her hand and pushed it away "Three years, and you still haven't changed?"

Peacock held up her hands "Growing up seems like a pain in the ass. I don't wanna be an old man like you."

Each of their subordinates rushed up to them and asked if they were all right "Never fear, Bob, I'm not entirely hurt."

"That's a relief, looked like you took a beating there. But what do I know, you probably kicked her butt, right?"

Avery looked at the bodiless figure "Hah, boss probably just let him off easy, considering that she's so strong."

Bob looked back at him "Sure, she might be strong, but not as strong as boss here."

Avery then floated closer to Bob "No way, no one's as strong as our boss, she could level whole building!"

Bob copied Avery's action "Oh yeah, our boss can level a whole city!" He turned to his boss "Ain't that right, sir?"

Mage sweat-dropped "I think that'd be an exaggeration, Bob."

"No it wouldn't be, look a the town. It's a mess."

"Yeah, that's because-" He then stopped and looked at the surrounding. Sure enough, the whole town is falling apart. "We did that much damage, huh?"

Peacock moved her finger under her nose back and forth "Yep. Just proves how powerful we are."

"I really don't think we should be proud of our handiwork, right now." He grabbed his hat and mask and put them back on. "Let's get out of here."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be arrested. I'm still starting my career as a magician, and it'll fall apart if I get caught." He grabbed her hand and they started to run.

Peacock remembered the times when they were trapped, he would always show her magic tricks. They were simple, but she was amazed either way. He was huge fan of magic then and still is. She would say that's a bit too obsessive, but then again, it was the same for her with cartoons.

"All righty then, Max, let's split like a banana!" She began to run faster as her legs looked like they were moving like wheels. They had been out of view by then.

* * *

An hour after the brawl between Peacock and Mage, the streets were being investigated by uniformed men. With the Skullgirl on the loose, they would have to search everything. "Anything new?"

Parasoul walked up to one of the soldiers, to which he replied "Nothing yet, Lady Parasoul. We're not even sure the Skullgirl did this."

"We might as well investigate about what happened." The soldier nodded and walked to investigate elsewhere.

A few feet away Arselite was holding his communicator as Hank who was behind him lifted a large chunk of debris. Arselite spoke into the communicator "Any sign of her, Scope?"

On a helicopter flying around the town, Scope was on it looking through her, well, scope. "_Nothing yet, Chief. This place is as abandon as a school on weekends. Not to mention a complete wreck._"

"Yeah," Arselite looked at a blast mark "whatever happened here was definitely destructive. Most possibly a fight." His finger slid along the mark and he looked at his dirtied finger "THey boys should probably check this out. Skullgirl or not, whoever did this is dangerous."

"_Roger that, I'll inform Dynamite to get some samples._" He put the communicator away and walked to Parasoul.

"Milady, there's nothing we can determine from all this for now. The best we can do is get the lab to scan whatever traces were left behind."

"Alright then, Commander." She looked around with an obvious expression of worry on her face.

"Is anything wrong, Milady?" Arselite asked, concerned and probably blushing.

"No, I'm fine." She smiled at him but that soon faded as she looked at the distance "I just fear that we could be dealing with something worse than the Skullgirl."

* * *

Night fell in Little Innsmouth. Most of the local residents would either be asleep or doing some late night fishing.

Kage spent his night checking out a crime scene.

Namely, the scene where the Skullgirl is said to have attacked a week ago. He had been looking around for half an hour now, looking for anything that would lead him to his target. A fairly short figure then came to him. It was completely black and had white eyes and seemed to have a canine-like figure. Kage crouched down "Did you find anything, Inu?"

The dog nodded and ran back the way he came with Kage behind reached a large crater where building remains and small blood pools are present. The dog went near the left side of the crater. When Kage reached him, he found a skeleton bone. Kage reached down and touched the bone and focused on finding the traces. Seconds later, he opened his eyes "Inu," The dog looked at his master "next time, don't lick the evidence." Inu whimpered.

"What a fishy looking pur-son."

Kage stood up straight and scanned his surrounding. "Who's there?!"

The voice replied "Why, just a mere little pussy cat, that's all."

Kage looked behind him, the source of the voice "There!" He then threw a kunai at the roof of a building where a shadow dodged it and leapt off the roof.

"Hey, I could've lost my head."

"That's what I was aiming to do, feline."

The figure stepped forward and revealed to be a cat-human hybrid with marks on her limbs. She is the great cat-thief, Ms Nadia Fortune "How cruel, nyan."

"10 seconds, and I already hate you." Inu growled at her as she stepped back a bit.

"A dog! Man, this is cat-tastrophic for me!" She looked back at Kage "I've never seen you around here before, tell me, what's you're fuzzy business here?"

Kage stared back "My business is none of yours, feline, now beat it."

She then ran up to Kage and put an arm around him "Aw, don't be such a stiff puppy and loosen up."

Kage had kunais against her neck at this point. "Leave before I kill you!"

Ms Fortune smirked and slid her claws along the kunais "Yeah, like that'll happen."

Kage grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her "Do you take me for a fool, worthless cat?! I won't repeat myself," He smashed her against the wall "LEAVE OR DIE!"

She got back up on her feet and got into a fighting stance "Nah, I pur-fur stay and fight!"

"Is that so? Then," He threw a couple of kunais "VANQUISH!"

* * *

In a peaceful town known as Maplecrest, it had been hit with heavy rain in the night, so there are very few out. There is, however, one lone figure walking on the streets of Maplecrest. With one objective in mind. To locate an escaped project.

"Damn, what a downpour. At least it's not breaking my view." The figure, Spike, had been looking around for a while and found nothing. "If only there was some sort of item with her DNA or something so I can track her."

A bit far ahead of him was another figure. It was humanoid, though, had a silhouette of what looked like a four-blade wheel behind it. It was getting closer and closer until Spike was able to identify it. They both stopped in their tracks. "Looks like I got my wish."

The silhouette revealed itself to be a monstrous-like girl with the bladed wheel stuck to her back.

"There you are, Painwheel."

She looked up at Spike and growled "Go...away...!"

"Sorry can't do that, I got strict orders to bring you back." Spikes then sprouted out of his fists "Even if I have to use extreme measures."

Painwheel revved up her wheels and got ready to battle "Then...YOU'RE GONNA DIE!"

* * *

Note: Sorry there hasn't been anything in a while, school and whatnot. And two of the Skullgirls and Skullboys pair up. That should be interesting. And how exactly does Mage and Peacock know each other? And what does Parasoul mean they would be dealing with something worse? How will both of the last battles go? That's for me to know and for you to find out soon.


	10. Presenting: Krauser

**Skullboys Present: Krauser**

* * *

"Ah, what a lovely day for experimenting."

Inside a special area within Lab Zero, it was filled with many test tubes, chemicals, and lab apparatus. It was closed off from the other areas by a huge metallic door and no sun came through, the only light source were from the bulbs above the area. This special area was given to one of the Labs greatest, Dr. Krauser, the Cyborg Scientist.

The scientist wore a thick large lab coat that covered nearly his entire body, save for the upper part of his head and his shins and feet. He also wore thick black pants, black heavy boots, and white glasses where his eyes were hidden. It should also be noted that he has big black gloves.

Besides the scientist himself, there is also someone else in that room, strapped into a table and taped by their mouth. The person was crying in fear of what will happen to them.

Krauser was about to experiment, before his communicator rang. "Yes?"

"Krauser," The voice at the other end spoke in a metallic voice "you are not occupied, I hope?"

He looked at his guinea pig "That depends, why did you contact me?"

"Marie has requested another, 'outing'. I see to it that you and Valentine join her."

"Very well, Brain Drain, I will go." He inserted a couple of commands into a nearby computer "After I'm done with the guinea pig." He closed the communicator and continued pressing the keys, which made a nearby drill to shift towards the victim "Do not worry, you will be leaving soon."

What follows was a shrill scream.


	11. Presenting: Shadow

**Skullboys Present: Shadow**

* * *

Nighttime has fallen in the Canopy Kingdom. If one were sane enough, they would know to be careful if they walked out at this time, as many dangerous people can appear at this time. However, not everyone has the right mind to stay at home. For example, three young men were out to wreck havoc.

"Oh man, did ya see the looks on their faces?!"

"Yeah man, it was priceless."

"Hold up, boys, we got ourselves another victim."

Up ahead was what looked like a Chinese monk in a traditional robe, dark skin, sandals, bald, beads around his neck, eyes closed, and his left hand in a monk-like position. (Don't know how to describe it)

"Ain't he seem like he far from his home?"

"Let's wake him up and show him that he's not supposed to be here." They walked up to the monk and the leader yelled "Hey, chinky, you know this ain't a temple right?"

The monk remained silent

"You ignorin' our boss, bad idea, dumbass."

The monk was still silent.

"Okay, that's it." The big one of the three ran forward and tried to punch him, but the monk's left hand reached out and grabbed it and flung the brute back.

"You should know better than to enrage one of the Trinity's soldiers." The monk said in a multiple, distorted voice.

"What the hell? What kind of freak are you?!"

The monk then opened his eyes, all 8 of them. Along with his own eyes, 3 more surrounded the side, diagonal, and above the eyes one each of them, giving him 8 eyes. "All that oppose peace shall be punished." The monk's shadow then started to shake as it rised up and covered him. His appearance then changed to a shadow blob with faces on the bodies and his "face" appears as the 8 eyes.

The night is filled with nothing more then screams and disgusting sounds of skin being ripped off.

* * *

Note: Now that all the characters have been introduced, the story will get a bit interesting from here.


	12. Meeting Comrades

**Meeting Comrades**

* * *

"So after the job, I was thinking of staying around the town for a little fun, you know, find a little lady to hang around. Unfortunately, the only little lady I met was cold and skull-hearted. I had to split before I got ripped limb by limb."

The two hosts and the two Medici muscles were in a limo on the way to Little Innsmouth where both their targets were. Francis, who now changed out of his suit into a tight shirt with long sleeves and black-and-white striped pattern with a rose attached to the left chest area, was wrapping up his story. "To think, both our targets are in the same area."

"Good thing, it would take too long for me to get there myself." Walker had his feet up on the table in the limo.

"Yeah, it's also a great relief on me." Stalker spoke "I don't have to carry this heavy piece of-AH, WHAT THE HELL?!" Walker poured his drink all over Stalker's eye.

"You know, considering all the abuse you give him, I still wonder how he's not blind yet."

Walker poured more wine into his glass "Don't know, and to be honest, don't care."

A groan was the heard to the back left side of the limo where Filia sat "Samson, I think you've had enough." Samson hasn't stopped drinking and the drunken feeling has started to reach Filia.

"No-*hic*-way! There's way too many good stuff here, and I ain't plannin' on stopin'!"

Stalker, who recovered from the drink, sighed "Need help?" Filia nodded in response. Stalker grabbed the bottle from Samson, much to his protest, and stretched him really high and smashed the bottle against him, leading to Samson being knocked out.

"Thanks. My hair's wet but at least he'll stop."

Stalker waved his tentacles "No problem. I actually wanted to do something like that to him."

"Still got a grudge?" Walker stated before drinking from his glass again.

"Just because we're working with them doesn't mean I have to start liking him."

"Grudge?" Cerebella asked.

"It's a long story."

"Speaking of stories, I was wondering, how do you two know each other?" Cerebella asked referring to Walker and Francis.

Francis started to go French again "Well you see Madame-" He then received death glares from Walker, Stalker, and Cerebella, as well as Vice-Versa. "Fine, fine. Killjoys." He muttered the last part "Anyway, it's a tale of a gentleman who saved an idiot's life."

Walker scoffed "I thought we went over this, Stretch, I'm the one who saved your prissy little ass."

Francis chuckled "Did you get hit hard in the head or somethin', I'm the one who saved your idiotic behind."

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm right, Ms Sissy Pants."

"Nah, it's the other way around, Numb Skull."

"They would've gunned you and your suit down if it weren't for me, or is the cologne getting to your head?"

"Nice try, but you and Stalker would be dead if it weren't for ME. Stop thinking with your fists and you'll remember."

"Guys!" Cerebella shouted "All I get is that one would be dead if it weren't for the other. What I don't get is what would've killed you."

"Three words," Francis said as he lifted three of his fingers "New Meridian Bank."

Cerebella still looked confused, as well as Filia. The latter asked "Umm, what does the bank have to do with it?"

Walker scoffed "Isn't it obvious? That's where we met."

"Yeah, but I still don't get how." Cerebella crossed her arms.

"You need all the details don't you, honey?" Francis' response was a blade coming out of her heels which was inches away from his neck "That was a joke."

Walker continued "Me and the gang were still unknown at the time, and we wanted our own wanted posters-Shut up Stalker." Stalker lowered his raised tentacle "We thought it was gonna be a walk in the park, except we were walking into the dangerous part of the park."

Francis spoke up "Me and some of the Medici men went there to ensure that we owned the bank and we thought the exact same thing." He tipped his hat forward, casting a shadow on his face "But apparently, they called in some heavy stuff to defend themselves."

Walker picked up from where Francis left off "But it seemed they didn't think we were gonna cooperate." He gave off an evil smile "They never stood a chance either way."

Filia asked, "What happened to them?"

Now it was Francis that was giving the smile "Well, the customers weren't there for their safety and we injured the majority of their security. As for the guy," He gave a scoff "I broke him, from head to toe."

Filia looked a bit disturbed and Cerebella stared at Francis in slight shock before smiling "Well, I guess you aren't as much of a sissy as I thought."

Francis took off his hat and twirled it "So what do you think of me now? I heard ladies love bad boys."

Cerebella took out her heel blades again "Don't push your luck, Lover Boy."

Walker whispered to Francis, "Guess the game's been set on expert difficulty, hasn't it, Franny?"

"Just you wait, I'm gonna get her."

And throughout all of that, their destination was getting that much closer.

* * *

On a different road, there's a cart that would usually be pulled by conjured horses, but is instead pulled by a cartoonish car where the driver was a humanoid bullet and to the side, a lady in a red dress. Inside were the rest of Peacock and Mage's cronies. However, one member on each side aren't on best terms.

"Boss can conjure up animals!"

"Oh yeah, well boss can conjure up anything!"

"But I bet she can't do magic."

"She doesn't need, her Argus is more powerful!"

"No way, the Magus is!"

"Argus!"

"Magus!"

"ARGUS!"

"MAGUS!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?!"

The two bickering beings, Avery and Bob, were silenced by one of the leaders, Peacock.

"You arguing is making us very irritated, you had better stop, RIGHT NOW!" The other leader, Mage, scolded.

"S-sorry boss." Both said at the same time.

Mage sighed "Something tells me this will go on for a long time."

"Don't worry, we can always gag them if things get out of hand." Peacock suggested.

Mage looked at her funny "That isn't a good joke, Patricia."

"Who said it was a joke?" Both Avery and Bob jumped back and Mage sweatdropped.

"Honestly, you're hard to figure out, even before this."

"Yep, definitely one of my good traits."

_'It's a trait all right.' _Mage thought.

"Anyway," Peacock jumped back to her seat "what's snobby fella like you doin' shows in a lot of odd places?"

Mage ignored her comment and replied "You figured out, huh?"

"It wasn't hard, I'm lookin' for her too." She got out a cigar and smoked it.

"I didn't know you smoked."

"It's what happens when you watch too much cartoons." Mage chuckled at this. After a while, what Peacock said next surprised him "Where were you?"

"Huh?" Mage looked at Peacock who had her face shadowed.

"They told me you were the one that saved me, and that you left after putting me under their care." She threw the cig out the open window "But why did you leave?"

Mage looked at his glove "A deal." Now Peacock was looking at him "The doctor and I made a deal. They said they would do everything they can to keep you alive, if I did something for them."

"Find the Skullgirl."

Mage nodded "I was going to return once I did this. But," He looked away, with his hat covering his eyes "I couldn't."

Peacock looked at him confused "That means you found her. Why couldn't ya'?"

A long pause followed before Mage said "Because the Skullgirl is-"

He never got to finish his sentence, because the cart rocked and stopped "What the deuce?!" Peacock yelled.

Everyone in the cart ran out. Peacock ran to the car upfront "Andy, why'd the hell you stop the-" She stopped as she saw what blocked their path.

"Patricia, what's going on?" Mage ran up front and stopped in his track "My God."

In front of them were hundreds of Black Egret soldiers. Standing in front were some of the top members of the Egrets, including the leader Parasoul and the Shadow Squad leader Arselite. The former stepped forward. "State your name."

"Certainly, my name is BITE ME!" Peacock harshly replied.

Mage quickly pulled her back and whispered to her "Don't you have any idea who that is?!"

"Yeah, and honestly, I don't give a damn!" She whispered back.

"Patricia, we don't need the government to hunt us down, it will greatly hinder our work."

"I hope you two don't mind, but we're running a tight schedule." Arselite tapped his wrist as if there was a watch there.

"Let me do all the talking." Mage whispered before turning around "Greetings, Your Majesty. It is an honor, somewhat. My name is Mage the Magnificent. Me and my assistant here-"

"Assistant?! Why I aughta-"

"Quiet!" He whispered harshly at her "We were both on our way to the next show to prepare. We thought that this road would probably be quicker."

"Save it, we traced the energy from the broken town to you." Arselite interrupted. He showed a device that seemed like a tracker to further prove himself. "What I don't get is how a couple of kids like you manage to destroy so much property?"

Mage looked annoyed "Kid? I'll have you know I'm 13, an age past being a child."

"Whatever, I still don't get how you manage to break a whole town. And don't smooth talk outta this, the tracker proves it."

Mage tried to think of other options, but he didn't. He took out his wand and made a blade come out of it to pierce the tracker. "I didn't want to do this, but you left me with no other choice."

He immediately backed up as a bullet nearly hit him. A bullet coming from Parasoul's Lugermorph "Perhaps you should come with us."

Peacock smirked "Real smooth talking, James Bond."

"Well, I guess we're doing things your way."

"Yup," Peacock twirled two revolvers with blades coming out of them "my favorite way." She looked back at her underlings "You guys better not get in between this, ya hear?!"

"The same goes for all of you." Mage ordered his underlings.

They obliged and stood back to let their superiors take care of this. Parasoul looked at the Egrets "Let me handle this." She readied her umbrella and pistol.

"I don't even need to tell you guys." Arselite said as he fixed his robotic arm and took out his knives.

"You ready, fancy pants?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Commander Arselite."

"Ready, Milady."

As the sun rose, the battle was about to begin.

* * *

"Meow." A certain undead feline jumped back before a shadow dog could bit here "Two against one, that's un-fur."

The dog returned to its ninja owner "Must you make terrible puns everytime?" The ninja, Kage, annoyingly replied.

"What, got a pur-roblem with that? Am I ruffling your fur?"

Kage had enough of the puns she made throughout the fight. He grabbed the dog, Inu's, tail and he turned into a windmill shuriken "I will stitch your mouth shut, you insolent feline."

"Not the playful type, aren't you?"

"I take my preys seriously, no matter how weak they are." He threw the shuriken at her.

"Then you're gonna have a problem taking this kitty's nine lives." She jumped to dodge the shuriken and landed on a light post.

"Don't get cocky, wench" Ms Fortune raised her eyes as she sees the windmill shuriken returning to cut her head off. The head rolled on the deck as it neared Kage and the transformed Inu. He picked up the head to stare at it "It's a shame this had to end so quickly. You might've been a worthy foe."What came next was that the head opened its eyes and bit him on the nose. "GAH, what the-" He then got a kick from the dismembered body, who then retrieved the head.

"Sorry, did I say nine lives? I meant limitless lives." She put her head back on.

Kage started in disbelief "What?! Who are you?! What are you?!"

"In the words of someone as stiff-furred as you," she detached her tail and held it as if it was a sword "your demise."

Kage stood up and held his hand as if he were about to grab something just above his head "Something like you shouldn't wander this world. Therefore," he closed his hand as a gigantic shadow hand appeared below Ms Fortune "I'll be taking you back to my master." The hand dragged down to wherever it came from, dragging the undead feline with it "Inu," The shadow dog looked up at its master "I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Around the same time the battle between the undead feline and the shadow hound took place, another battle was happening in Maplecrest.

"Eat this!" One of the fighters, Spike, fired lightning at his opponent, Painwheel. She dodged it and rushed in to stab him with the spikes she sprouted out of her knuckles. Another spiked knuckle blocked it "You're gonna have to do better than that, little monster." He spun and kicked her stomach.

Painwheel slid all the way until she hit a house. She stood up as her bladed behind started to spin on the ground like a wheel and rushed towards Spike. It barely missed him before turning around for a second attempt. It hit him this time as he tried to block it.

Spike flew until he landed in a tree. He sliced in half and charged his hand with electricity "Big mistake, beastie." He charged towards her with his electric hand.

Painwheel tried to counter with her own hands covered in spikes "Leave...me...ALONE!" They both got hit and hit the street with a thud.

Spike tried to stand up _'Damn it, I didn't think she was this strong. I'm gonna need to stop playing around.' _He stood up the same time she did, and as soon as he did, his eyes flashed and he turned completely invisible "Can't kill what you can't see, can ya, Pinhead?"

Painwheel tried to look for him or any signs of him. Before she knew it, she got hooked in the face, and again, and again. She looked around again before she felt something hit her stomach.

Spike uncloaked and held Painwheel by her hair "Why don't you give up? It'll save you the pain."

She had enough. Painwheel decided to activate her Hatred Install "Go..."

Energy started to flow through her body and Spike felt it "What the-"

"to..." The energy was reaching its point.

"What the hell are you?!"

She brought up her face as her eyes flashed "HELL!" Energy was released and Spike got pushed back.

He hit a mailbox and crashed into a house "Dammit, I guess ugly isn't the only thing she is." He looked again to see her walking towards the house "Now what?" He looked to see a taser behind him "This'll do."

Painwheel was drawing closer to the house while her bladed wheel was dragged across the ground. She kicked the remains of the mailbox to the front door "You will pay for underestimating me." She threw her blades at Spike, who just got up in time to notice the blades coming his way and barely dodged it. He grabbed onto the wire that connected her and her blades "Haven't you learned anything?"

"I have, but..." He dropped the taser he was holding "with all the energy I picked up, it won't matter." His other hand grabbed onto the wire as both of his arm was charging with intense amount of electricity "DISCHARGE!" With that, he released all of the electricity he built inside him into the wire which traveled all they way back to Painwheel.

The only thing Painwheel felt washigh amounts of pain. Before she passed out she heard from Spike "Dad's gonna be happy I brought you back, sister."

* * *

Outside in the rain of a warehouse, the mad doctor, Krauser, has been waiting for his accomplice for an hour. Soon enough, though, he heard a soft thud hit the ground to his left "You're late."

Out of the shadows appeared a woman with blue hair in a nurse attire and an hourglass figure. She was Valentine, the deadliest nurse in the Kingdom "Sorry, there were some fine young men that had to undergo...surgery." As she said this she slides her hand underneath his mask.

"Our task wasn't to murder bystanders." He removed her hand from his chin "It was to locate the Skullgirl, who apparently went missing while you were supposed to watch her."

"Sorry, but I like a little excitement in my life."

"I have no need for such humane pleasures."

Valentine scoffed "You're about as dull as a paperwork. Lighten up."

"Are we gonna stand here and talk all day, or are we going to search for Marie?"

"Fine let's go, we might as well meet Double and Shadow first."

Without the mask, one can imagine him smiling "A wise decision, Valentine."

* * *

In the Cathedral of New Meridian, where the outside is divine, but the inside reeks of sinister, two figures can be seen as they discuss with invisible entities. One of the figures, that appeared in the form of a monk, stepped forward "My Ladies, we have indicated numerous possible candidates for the Skull Heart."

"I see." One of the invisible voices said in a dull feminine tone "Will you bring them here?"

"That is not necessary, Great Trinities." The other figure, in the form of a nun, spoke "It seems as if all of their destinies lie in this very place."

"Is that so?" Another of the invisible voice spoke in a seductive feminine voice "Well then, this should be interesting."

The final voice, one of a strict mother, ordered the two "Ensure that everything goes as plan. Do not disappoint."

"Yes, Great Ones." Both replied as they bowed. With that presence vanish. And now, the following days will be rather intriguing.

* * *

Note: And there we go, what will happen from here? Now that the character intros are out of the way, the story will really pick up from here. I'm just as excited as you are readers.


	13. Meeting Enemies

**Meeting Enemies**

* * *

After arriving in Little Innsmouth, the hosts and the Medicis were walking around the little town, looking for clues "By the way, Walker," Francis asked "how do you know Fortune?"

Walker had his hands behind his head "Well, let's say that she liked to interfere in situations where she shouldn't stick her feline nose into."

"Took the rat before you did?"

"Oh yeah." He looked around "Consider this as a payback."

Filia then asked him "Where are you taking us anyway?"

"The only place I know that she'll be." He finally spotted it. A small restaurant on one of the trees that had the sign 'Yu-Wan's Restaurant.' (Forgive me; I can't remember if I got the name right)

"This is it?"

"Yep." They head up the stairs leading to the restaurant and entered to see it slightly filled with customers "Table for four, Minette." He asked a young Dagonian girl.

"Walker, nice to see you again. Right this way, please." She took them to a table by the window and gave them the menu.

"How do you know her, Slick?" Francis asked Walker when Minette left.

"Me and the gang got into a fight with another gang here, and we indirectly freed her. She thanked us by giving us free dinner here." He then looked away before looking back "Though the old fish fart owner demanded for tip."

A voice was heard from the kitchen "I'm old but I'm not deaf, you delinquent."

Walker flinched at the noise "If it wasn't for the little lady's googlie fish eyes and a few of the members who looked at her face begging me, I would've sunken this restaurant."

"You're not serious, are you?" Filia asked him.

"Remember our fight?"

"...Point taken, kid." Samson replied.

"Hey, muscleshirt," Cerebella asked her partner "aren't we on a job?"

"Come on, don't be a stiff, baby." He put his arm around her "You're a circus star, you should know that if you work hard, you should play hard."

"Keep your arm around me and I'm gonna hit you hard." Cerebella threatened.

Walker couldn't help but laugh a bit "You have no idea how entertaining this is, Franny."

Francis stretched his arm underneath and pushed Walker's chair away "You're right, I won't know how entertaining it is for you, but this is for me."

"So is this." Walker stood up and pulled Francis' shirt and let go as it hit him hard.

"That's it." Francis cracked his knuckle, ready to smash Walker into bits, while Walker thought of doing the same thing to Francis while cracking his neck.

Cerebella then whispered to Filia "Crap, we gotta do something!"

They were looking around seeing if there was anything they could distract the two with. Samson suddenly yelled "Look, a ninja and a giant floating ball!"

Stalker opened his eyes "What the hell're you talking 'bout, Samson?" He stretched his eyes to see "Holy crap your right."

Now everyone was looking. Indeed, they saw a ninja on the roof with what looks like an orb of shadow following him.

"Kid."

"Yeah?"

"Did you smoke anything?"

"Not recently."

"Good, I thought I was insane."

They were silently observing this, while the other cstomers just don't seem to notice "Let's follow him." What Walker said caused everyone to look at him.

"You sure you didn't smoke anything?"

"Shut it, Stalker. I just have this gut feeling that we should follow him."

Everyone was thinking whether or not they should go with this plan. Cerebella then spoke "Better than sitting here and doing nothing."

Francis nodded "Alright then. Lets go."

As Minette came to their table Walker told her "Sorry, Minette, we're leaving early."

Walker, Filia, and Cerebella all ran but Francis stayed behind and took Minette's arm and, in his French accent, said "But Madam, would you like to come with me to the city after all this?"

A long black tentacle then wrapped around him "Come on, silver tongue, we gotta move."

Just before they got to the door, Francis yelled out "Come to the city sometimes, eh?"

Minette was just left there confused "So...no lunch?"

* * *

At the same time, a little ways from Little Innsmouth, a pair of deadly young teens face off against a pair of deadly enforcers of law. There was no clear victor so far as both sides were still fighting with everything they had.

"Stand. Still." Parasoul was trying her best to hit the dodging Peacock with her Lugermorph and had not hit her at all.

"You call that a gun, Royal Pain?" Peacock jumped and whipped out her own gun "This is a gun." She fired 6 rounds at Parasoul, who opened Kreig, her umbrella, to defend against the bullets. When she looked, she saw Peacock's feet aiming at her face. It connected and Parasoul flew back.

Arselite looked to see the Princess hitting the asphalt "Milady!"

"Where are you looking at?" Arselite held his knives up in time to block the incoming blade from Mage's wand. He pushed him away and aimed his hand at him.

"Eat lead, Twinkle Toes!" He fired a barrage of bullets but they all hit an invisible wall Mage conjured up.

"Twinkle Toes?!" Mage conjured a fireball flying fast towards Arselite.

He sides-stepped and throws a smoke grenade, which starts to cover both of them up quick. Mage looked around and was keeping his guard up "Think fast." Mage turned around only for a metallic fist to uppercut him and send him flying out of the smoke and into the air. Arselite fired his hand which is connected to his arm by a wire as it grabs onto Mage's leg and smashes him into the ground next to Peacock. He then runs to Parasoul.

Peacock walks up to him and helps him up "You handling things fine?"

"I got smoked, uppercutted by a steel fist which then grabbed onto me and smashed my face into the ground. What do you think?"

"You'll live."

"How can you be so carefree at a time like this?"

On the other side, Arselite helped Parasoul up "This fight is going nowhere, those kids are damn strong."

Parasoul picked Kreig up "As difficult as it is we can't give up."

"Got a plan?"

Parasoul nodded.

Mage picked up his hat as he looked at his opponents "I don't like this, they're plotting something."

Peacock looked at them and smiled "Don't worry, we're smart enough to counter whatever they come up with."

"_I am, at least._" Mage thought.

Arselite cracked his knuckled "Okay, plans in motion. Though I don't feel too proud of it."

"Neither do I, Commander, but we have no choice." She got into a stance "Ready?"

"Let's do it."

They both were in a stance and looked like they were prepared to do something. Then they both ran in to different directions, Arselite heading to the left side of Mage, and Parasoul heading to the right side of Peacock.

"What are they planning? Patricia keep your guard up." He said as he held his wand tight.

Peacock had her gun with a familiar Buster Sword sticking out of her gun "Ya got it, chief." They were both back-to-back as both military leaders were on either of the Skullgirl hunters side.

Arselite, who was on Mage's side, threw a couple of smoke grenades at the two as it manages to cover them up completely "The same trick twice? You obviously know nothing of the magician's code, Commander." Mage made a gust of wind appeared as it blew the smoke away, however...

"Ah crap." Peacock muttered as they were surrounded by bombs floating in the air close to them or stuck on the ground "I gotta hand it to Miss Snobby, she's smart."

"Kreig." Parasoul stuck her umbrella to the ground "Detonate!" The area was soon covered with explosions. A gray smoke then covered the area "Perhaps I went overboard."

The cronies only looked with shock as their leaders got blasted in every direction. When the smoke cleared, they found they found their leader's on the ground and in pain, but still intact and alive "BOSS!" They all ran to their individual leaders.

"Boss, BOSS!" Avery was slapping Peacock in order to get her up "Come on, their gonna premiere the new season of your show, and you can't watch it if you die!"

"Boss, LIVE, DAMMIT!" Bob was shaking Mage in order to get him up "C'mon, your career is launching higher than the skies, you can't just drop that now!"

They heard footsteps approaching and watched as the soldiers moved in closer with the leaders in front "Don't come any closer!" Lady yelled.

Andy went beside her "How dare you hurt our boss!"

Parasoul looked away "Indeed, I did not expect to hurt them that much. Just enough so they won't fight back."

"It doesn't matter what you intended!" Bob flew up "Our leader is hurt, and you're okay with that?!"

"You think we want to hurt kids?!" Arselite yelled.

Parasoul held up her hand to silence Arselite "We are not fine with this, but they wouldn't stop fighting. We had no choice."

"Walking away is a good choice, you bitch." Said a weary sound coming from the damaged Peacock.

"BOSS!" Peacock's minions gathered around her again. The same for Mage's when he showed signs of waking up.

The two authoritative figures walked up to them "What, want some more, Fancy Pants?" Peacock said, still feeling cocky.

Parasoul stared at her with no emotions her eyes "I believe you should come with us if you seek medical attention."

"What's this? Showing pity for the enemy?" Mage responded.

"No. A form of apology."

"Apology?"

Arselite scratched the back of his head with his robotic arm "Yeah, we didn't exactly mean to hurt you that much, we just wanted to talk."

"And you had to beat the ever-loving crap out of us?" Peacock stated as her cronies helped her up.

"Who was it that attacked first?"

Both Magus and Argus user froze at Parasoul's question before looking at each other. Mage stood up "Forgive me."

Peacock, despite being hurt bad, stood up suddenly "Don't apologize!"

"Patricia, it is true that we assaulted them first."

"Yeah, and they're the one who went overboard!"

"Sorry about that, you were just too damn powerful." Arselite apologized.

Peacock crossed her arms "We are, aren't we?"

_"That was a fast change." _Mage thought.

Parasoul made a coughing sound to get their attention "Regardless, I believe you should come with us."

Mage and Peacock stared at each other for a while, deciding what to do. With a nod, they have made their decision.

"Very well then."

"Fine. Under one condition."

"And what would it be?"

"I want" Pause for dramatic effect "a buffet waiting for me!"

Everyone face faulted at her request "I guess there's nothing wrong with it." Parasoul said as she slowly got up.

"Great. So I guess you won't mind if we follow you in our car, right?" Peacock started walking to the cart as of the fight was just an exercise "Let's go, fellas."

"R-right, boss!" Peacock's gang started running towards her.

"So, just follow us, got it?" Arselite said as he turned around to his jeep with Parasoul.

"Hm?" Mage noticed something thin fall out of Arselite's pocket. He picked it up and saw a picture.

"Boss? You coming?" Bob was poking his leader's cheek when he just stood there.

"...Y-yeah. Lets go." Mage hesitantly replied as he stuffed the picture in his back pocket.

And so, the temporary allies went to the closest Egret base. As for Mage, memories and questions were running through his mind.

* * *

"Let me out, dammit! I'm claws-trophobic!" Ms Fortune yelled from within the orb.

"This orb might hold her, but it definitely won't keep her quiet." Kage jumped down to a large warehouse used for storing fishing equipments.

"You can never cage this kitty!"

"SHUT UP!" He kicked the orb up as it hit the roof and bounced back down "Annoying cat."

"Me-OW! That hurts!"

"And why should I care?"

"Is that how a man should treat a feline like me?"

The orb then formed a ripple as it spat out Ms Fortune's head as it kept on rolling before being stopped by Kage's foot "Listen here, feline, I didn't drag you with me just so that I can hear your pathetic puns. Now keep your mouth shut or I'll stitch it shut!"

"What a noisy bunch."

A menacing voice suddenly grabbed their attention. Kage looked around for the source. He then fixated his eyes on a stack of crates "There."

"Seems even my invisibility can't hide me from the senses of someone from the Shinobi Hound Clan." Then a big red dot appeared at the top of the crates before a metallic figure materialized. It jumped down as it stared at the half-breed ninja.

"I see. So the technology you used allows you to cloak." Kage observed.

"Yeah. Keep up with the program why don't you and stop using old techniques." The figure said as he extended his claws.

"Hm, I smell a Lab Zero rat." Ms Fortune mentioned.

"Can it, cat." He kicked her into the black orb.

"NYAH! NOT THE DARK, AGAIN!" She yelled from within the orb.

"What is your purpose here, figure?"

"Nothing really. Just waited for you to get lost so I can move out with some heavy luggage. But that ain't possible with you bickering with that stray."

"I AIN'T A STRAY!"

"So make my job easier and beat it, will ya?" Spike told him.

Kage looked back at the orb momentarily before staring back at the figure. He then drew out his short sword and aim it at the boy "As irritating as that cat is, I must take into consideration about what she said."

"About her not being a stray?"

"About you being associated with Lab Zero."

The figure chuckled a little "And why would I be a part of them?"

"The technologic suit, and the fact that you have something to deliver."

"Yes, but have you considered that maybe I work for the Kingdom? That the suit was made by them? That under no circumstances should I reveal the package?" He looked at his claws "Have you considered that?"

He started to lower his sword "I have." He stared back at him "But since when has the Princess allowed the use of synthetic parasites?"

The figure froze in his tracks "Clever dog. Guess it was a big mistake on my part to show me these bad boys." He stated, referring to his claws. Then a crate behind him began to rattle as the figure sent out an electric shockwave to the crate to make it stop moving.

"This might not be under my Sensei's orders, but I cannot allow you to proceed with what you are doing." Kage took a stance.

"So, playing the good guy, are we?" The figure extended claws from his other arm as he gave off a bit off electricity "This is my last warning, take a hike or I take your head."

"And this is my last warning, surrender and you will not be hurt."

The figure laughed "That's funny. You hurt me?! I hate doing unneeded work, but looks like this is needed."

"Seems we think alike."

"Let's start this!"

Kage charged towards the figure with the power of the shadows behind him and the figure charged towards Kage with the power of electricity behind him. As blades and claws clash, the fight begins.

* * *

Krauser and Valentine arrived in front of a gigantic building resembling a cathedral. Of course, it was just a coverup, for deep inside the depths of the building hid a true evil "About time we arrived." Valentine stated as Krauser started walking up the steps "Hey, don't leave me."

"The sooner we complete the task at hand, the sooner I can go back to my experiments, and to your surgeries." Krauser replied.

They entered the Cathedral which was at empty currently, save for two figures at the end "You have finally arrived." The monk, Shadow said.

"We would have arrived early if not for someone's violent and hormonal tendencies."

"Krauser, I'm hurt." Valentine said in mock pain.

Double then walked up to the pair "I must ask, how did you lose her?"

"Marie? She walked away when I was looking the other way." Valentine answered.

"So, through your carelessness, we lost a potential enemy." Krauser harshly told her.

"Relax, we'll get her back." Valentine said "She really doesn't have much of a choice."

"Indeed."

"Let's go bring our Marie back."

* * *

Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I have had other work to do and writers block to deal with. And I think the next chapters are gonna suffer the same fate. So until then, please bear with me.


	14. Meeting the Past

**Meeting the Past**

After arriving in front of lines of warehouse by the water, the hosts and the muscles began searching around, with the guys searching one end, and the girls searching the other.

"Can't believe we lost him." Walker complained.

"He's a ninja, the hell did you expect?" Francis stated.

"Shut up and keep looking."

At the other side Cerebella decided to strike up a conversation with Filia "So, tell me about yourself, Mop Top."

"Huh?" Filia replied.

"If we're gonna look, we might as well entertain ourselves."

"You're a circus star, why don't you entertain?" Samson retorted.

"Man, your hair's got an attitude problem."

"Its hard on me sometimes." Filia said.

"Sorry, kid, but we're stuck for a while, can't get me off, you know." Samson told her.

"Anyway, you haven't told me about yourself, yet."

"Well, I can't really say much. I like drinking coffee and milkshakes, radio dramas, reading comics and romance novels, and dogs."

"Huh, they are cute, aren't they? What else?"

"I…" There was a long pause before Filia finally said "I don't remember anything else."

"Huh?" Cerebella was confused at this "What do you mean?"

"Well, I sorta have…" Filia looked down "amnesia."

"Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up." Cerebella apoligised "Must be hard to not remember anything about yourself."

"N-no, it's fine. You didn't know."

"No, I was being nosy. It's not okay."

"No, it is."

Samson then perked up and yelled "FILIA, DODGE!"

Filia didn't think twice before rolling away as a wall broke with a man tumbling out, who is revealed to be,

"THE NINJA!" Cerebella yelled.

Kage looked to his side, to see the women and told them "Get out of here, it's dangerous!"

"Where are you looking at?!" The ninja looked to the side before meeting with an electrically charged foot and hitting against a stack of boxes.

"What the hell is that?!" The two ladies looked behind them to see Walker and Francis running up to them.

"You two okay?" Francis asked.

"Yeah." Filia said and looked back to the fight "The ninja is being attacked by this man."

"I can see that." Walker looked to see Kage in the air and throwing kunais at Spike, who turned invisible "The hell did he go?"

Kage landed and looked towards the group before his eyes widened in surprise "No, impossible!"

"You're really, losing your edge, dogboy." Kage felt something grab his head as he got electrically shocked before dropping to the ground. Spike uncloaked himself "This is supposed to be the strength of the Shinobi Hounds?"

"Shinobi Hounds?!" Francis eyes widened this time as he heard that name. Memories started to flash through his head.

"Hello, Earth to muscleman, you okay?" Cerebella said as she tried to get his attention.

Francis looked back at the ninja dog, ignoring everyone else "It can't be, is he-?"

"Hey, Frenchie, you awake?" Walker called.

"I need to find out something about him." Francis finally said.

"Huh?" They asked before he reached his arm towards Kage and pulled his scarf away.

"What?" Kage looked to see his scarf falling to Francis' feet.

"I knew it." Francis spoke quietly "It is you."

"Okay you mind telling me what's going on, Francis?!" Walker yelled.

"I finally got you, murderer." Francis said.

Spike scratched his head "What the hell is going on?"

"I kneow, I've been kept in the dark for too long!"

"You tell me-hm?" Walke looked to his left to see the orb that carried Ms Fortune "GAH! THE HELL?! DID THE BALL JUST TALK?!"

"Who you callin' a ball, buster?!"

Kage stood up "Tell me your name."

"Francis. The owner of the Serpent Armes." Francis looked up menacingly "The son of Jean-Pierre the Wrecker."

Kage stepped back as soon as he heard that "So, you're his son."

"Yeah." He cracked his knuckles "It's time for you to pay up for what you did, you son of a bitch." He threw his fist at him as Kage jumped up and back flipped.

"Listen to me, what happened was unintentional." Kage reasoned while Francis drew his fist back.

"I don't care if it was intended or not, you did what you did, and I'll do what I'll do." He launched it again as he performed the Tornado Punch, a punch that involves his hand twirled and untwirled as he punches.

Kage jumped back again but couldn't get far as the wind that the fist made drew him in and connected with him. Francis had his hands together as he raised them up and decided to smash him.

But a gigantic black parasitic hand stopped it from reaching the ground "Francis, calm down will ya?!"

"Move, Walker." Francis told him coldly.

"Not until I hear a full story." Walker retorted.

"What?!"

"You heard me!"

Francis was silent for a moment, then drew of both his fist back to him as Stalker reformed the hand into a sleeve "Fine. Back when I was a kid, when my mom was gone, my dad needed some cash. So he had to work…for the Medici."

"It actually wasn't bad, they gave us a home when we didn't have one, and everyone there was pretty great. My dad, who owned the family Serpent Armes, became the best of the best, and became a top-ranked. But then the day came."

"He was off with a group to go and take care of another gang, the Shinobi Hounds. They got in the Medici's way too many times, and we needed them to stop. They failed, and most came back injured, while a few died. My father was one of them."

"Francis." Cerebella said, feeling sympathy for him.

"He was murdered, by a Shinobi kid. He was praised by the clan for driving them back. I only remembered a scar on his neck." Francis looked to Kage "The same scar that you have!"

Kage reached up to an almost unnoticeable scar on the right side of his neck "I understand what you feel, but at least listen-"

"I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO JACKSHIT!" Francis yelled which made everyone shocked "You see, Walker. I can't let someone like him walk. I have to make him pay. So, move aside."

"…No."

"No?" Francis walked over to him and grabbed him by the collar "What do you mean no? You gonna stop me from avengin' my dad?"

"I'm stopping you from doing something you'll regret." Walker replied.

Spike, who was witnessing the whole thing, tried to sneak away "Not a big fan of drama shows. I'm out of here."

He didn't escape Kage's eyes, however "Stop!" He raced after him with orb behind him.

"You're not going anywhere!" Francis tried to reach a fist to him before being held by Walker.

"Sorry, Pretty Boy, but you're gonna have to go through me."

"Fine." Francis drew back the fist as Walker jumped back "Looks like we finally get to fight."

Walker spoke to the two ladies "You better follow him, my gut still tells me we need him."

"What about you?" Filia asked worryingly.

Walker grinned playfully "Looks like I need to knock some sense into Frenchie here."

"Mop Top." Filia turned to Cerebella at the sound of the nickname that she's apparently stuck with "We better go. I think they'll be fine."

Filia looked to Walker, then Francis, then back to Cerebella "Hey kid, if he says he's got it, he's got it." Samson assured.

Filia looked to her parasite before nodding "Alright." The ladies ran off, and before going out of site, Filia yelled "Be careful!"

Walker looked at them and smiled before back at Francis "You know, now that I got to fight you, it really isn't as fun as I thought."

Francis cracked his knuckles "You said you wanted to fight me. Now you got your wish."

Walker pooped his neck "Huh, what a pain. But at least fighting you shouldn't be so bad."

They got into their stances staring each other down for a while. Then at the same time, they shouted "LET'S GO!"

* * *

In a rather small room, there were two beds opposite from the door, a closet, and a table with a mirror. Mage was the only one present, as Parasoul had to discuss things with Arselite and Peacock was enjoying her free buffet. The cronies? With Peacock. Mage told them to go with her because he needed to be by himself. He was currently examining a picture that Arselite dropped a while back with a picture of a girl around 12 to 13 in a maid outfit.

"_So, they're looking for Marie._" Mage thought "_Guess it was to be expected, since she is the Skullgirl._"

He first thought that maybe he should tell that he knew her to the Princess, but he believed it would be better to keep silent for the time being. Moments later, Peacock bursted into the room, and Mage quickly hid the picture in his pocket.

"Whoo. You're missin' out on some good treat, Max. You wouldn't believe what they have here." Peacock told him.

"Actually, I do." Mage replied with a straight face "When you're a famous magician, sometimes you have to join in on these formal banquets. However, it gets rather tedious after a while."

"There you go, actin' like a snob again." Peacock lightly retorted. Peacock sat on the bed opposite of his "You know, you changed quite a bit."

"Hmm?" Mage lifted his head to look at Peacock.

"I mean, you're being this pompous, fancy guy, not to mention boring. Can't believe I hung out with you."

"Not everyone has to remain as a child, Patricia." Mage told her.

"Jeez. If I ever need a lullaby, I'll just have a conversation with you." Peacock told him as she lied down on the bed.

"Funny." Mage stood up from his bed and proceeded to the door.

"Hey, come on, no need to take it so seriously, Doc."

"It's not about that." Mage said. He had his head slightly turned in her direction before facing the open door again "I just...need to think." With that, he left the room.

Peacock scratched her head "What's his deal?"

Mage walked around the outside complex with a lot of things in his mind. Mainly the Skullgirl, his old friend Marie, what he should should he confront her, and the most important of all, how he was gonna break it to Patricia.

"_Dammit, this is gonna break her even_ _further._" He took out the picture again and looked at it without staring what's ahead, causing him to bump into someone "I'm sorry, I didn't see where I was going."

"No, that's okay, neither did I." Mage looked up to see the Commander.

"C-Commander Arselite!" Mage exclaimed.

"Hey there, kid." Arselite gave a small two-finger salute.

"I told you, I'm not a child."

"Right, right." Arselite waved it off "Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

"I just decided to go out for some air." The magician half-lied.

"Well, nothing fresh, just military gas." Arselite joked.

Mage then thought if hes hould mention this to the commander. He didn't see the downside, so he proceeded "Commander, do you have any leads on the Skullgirls at the moment?"

"*sigh* Unfortunately, no. Right now, we haven't got any leads. You wouldn't happen to have one would you?"

"No leads, but..." Mage stopped.

"But what?" Arselite questioned "If you know something, you should tell us."

"...No, it's nothing. Just thinking about things." Mage lied. As he walked away he said "I'm probably gonna go back and sleep early. Day has been rather hard."

Arselite scratched his chin "I wonder, is he keeping something?" He mumbled.

* * *

Note: And I'm finally done. Now you're probably asking why this is short by one section. Because I wanna focus more on the good guys and keep the sections with the villains a secret.


	15. Meeting Secrets

**Meeting Secrets**

"Stop right there!" Kage was now trailing the cybernetic Spike, who was carrying the package, aka, Painwheel. Despite the package he's carrying in contrast to Kage's orb, which just follows him, he moves surprisingly fast.

"Why don't you give up? I'm missin' out on my naptime, and you're making it all the more difficult for me."

"Not until I stop what you're doing." Kage continued to tail him until they reached a bridge in front of Wu-Yan's restaurant.

"Screw this." Spiked threw the package to the side "I might as well kill you. Makes things faster." He showed his spikes again.

"Very well." The dog ninja brought out his short sword "You will answer my questions."

"Too damn bad." Spiked thrusted the spikes even further and Kage dodged while the Spike hit a wall by an alley. Unknown to them, this is where Filia and Cerebella were.

"That damn brat!" Samson quietly yelled "Nearly poked me."

"I think we should hide somewhere else." Filia murmured.

"Trust me, this is as safe as it can get." Cerebella told her companion.

"Anyway, what should we do now?" The parasitic girl asked.

"Nothing to do now but hang back. If we rush in there, who knows what they'll do to pretty ladies like us."

"Probably something indecent." Samson bluntly stated.

"SAMSmmph" Cerebella put a hand over Filia before she could yell.

"You're gonna give away our position, Mop Top."

Filia removed the hand from her mouth "Sorry."

Back to the fight, Kage threw a rain of kunais down on Spike, who flung them away with long spikes "That trick won't work on me."

"Really?" The kunais then turned into clones as they started attacking Spike off guard.

Spike kept getting slash before discharging a field of lightining "Not bad, mutt." He smashed the ground as a spiked electric bush was coming up towards the ninja "But it's still not good."

Kage surrounded himself in a shadowy orb, but the force of the spike hit him and knocked him in the air. Spike fired a barrage of spikes at the airborne shinobi. Kage pulled out his sword and deflected most of them but still got scratched and hit in the shoulder. Spike snapped his finger as electricity was rushed through Kage's body.

Kage landed with a thud and the spike fell out of him. Spike walked towards him with an electrically charged fist. However, a shadow dog stopped him in his path.

"So the little puppy wants to play? Fine. I'll fry your mutt, Mutt."

Back towards the spectators "Damn, this is some intense fight." Samson muttered.

"I wonder how the bridge they're standing on is still not wrecked." Cerebella observed the wooden bridge where the fight was taking place.

Then they heard grunts coming from another direction. Filia ran towards where the sound was and saw "Walker?!"

Indeed, Walker was flying from the opposite direction with elastic arms wrapped around him "Get your stinkin' arms off of me!" Walker landed at the edge of the bridge and kicked Francis who charged at him.

Francis hit the wall next to the girls "Piece o' parasitic crap!" He was about to charge again before Cerebella stopped him "What're you doing?!"

"Stopping you from killing each other!"

"I appreciate the intentions, but hardhead is in my way of my revenge, don't get involved in this!"

"I'm not lettin' you do this!" Walker yelled from the other end.

"Oh yeah?! Watch me!" Francis flung his fists above them as they reached for Kage.

"What-" "-the hell?!" The fists collided with the bridge as they grabbed Kage.

"Got you-GAH!" Walker held a gigantic fist around Francis' arms "Walker, let go." He said menacingly.

"You first."

"You wanna play like that? FINE!" He lifted his arms and flung both Kage and Walker into the air.

"Dammit, Francis, put us down!" Walker yelled.

"Gladly!" Francis lifted his arms up and smashed them towards the ground. Walker and Kage were sprawled on the ground and tried to get back up.

Spike was walking towards his package "'Bout damn time someone took care of that dog." He turned his head to the package and found someone familiar on top of it "What the-Aren't you supposed o be trapped?"

Ms Fortune was perched on top of the package "Well, I don't know who to thank, but when the doggy got disciplined, I got out of that dark purr-ison."

"Lame pun aside, move." Spike raised an electric fist.

"Over my already dead body." Ms Fortune pounced at him.

"You people are pissing me off!" Spike gave off a gigantic electric field that shocked Ms Fortune, the package, and the men on the other side of the bridge.

"Walker."

"Filia, wait." Cerebella stopped Filia before she can get herself caught in the field "Unless your asking to get shocked, we have to stay back."

"But-"

"I don't like to standby either, but what can we do without getting ourselves shocked?"

The shocking then stopped as Spike breathed heavily. He lifted his head up and twisted his neck "Damn interfering punks." He grabbed the package and began to walk away.

"Wait." Kage said weakly.

Spike stopped in his tracks "What does it take to kill a mutt like you?!"

"A lot." Kage stood up and walked towards him "I'll say it again, surrender."

Spike cackled really loudly and turned to face him "I don't think you're in any condition to be making threats. You're banged up bad, what makes you think you can still take me on?"

Kage picked up his sword which was close to his feet "I won't give up, no matter the cost."

Spike began to walk towards him but then froze and saw an image of a young boy saying "_I won't give up, no matter what!_"

"GAH!" He dropped the package and held his head "What the hell...was that?" He muttered.

"Keep your guard up." Kage held his sword against Spike's neck "Else, your life shall end quickly."

"Shut up." Spike prepared a fist "SHUT UP!" He punched Kage hard as he flew back and landed close to Francis, who stirred.

"Damn...lightning." He looked to see Kage at his feet. However, he didn't have the energy to move "Damn, that attack must've fried me of my strength."

"Muscle man." Francis turned his head to the sound of Cerebella's voice "Your not too hurt are you?"

"Just...fine." Francis then looked back at Kage.

"Don't you even think-"

"Even if I wanted to, I can't. I'm all busted." He then closed his eyes "Can't even...keep awake."

"Francis?"

"He's fine, just fainted." Cerebella looked behind to see Samson and Filia, with Samson carrying Walker.

"Well, it's good they're alive, but..." Filia looked towards Spike who advanced towards Kage.

"I had enough of this crap. I'm gonna make sure you stay down for good!" Spike raised his spiked fist as he was about to kill Kage with it. He heard a groan and looked towards the other group and saw Walker stirring. He sees a flash of images, once that he didn't recognize yet felt familiar to him. He held his head and screamed. He crouched down "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! IT HURTS SO MUCH!"

"W-what the...?" Walker woke up to the screamings and saw Spike screaming and thrashing his head around "What's wrong with him, did he take something?"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Finally, he stopped screaming, and fell limp.

"Mhm, I was having a nice catnap." Ms Fortune woke up and twirled all her limbs and head around "What happened?" She then remembered the package "What's in this thing anyway?" She then opened the box and found a single person.

Painwheel.

* * *

Inside a room, four people gathered, Parasoul, Arselite, Peacock, and Mage. The room had a desk near a window and bookcases, along with a couch and a television and door to a bathroom and bedroom. It almost looked like a hotel room.

"Mind tellin' me why we're here?" Peacock asked "I had other things to do."

"You mean sleeping with a bucket full of junk food?" Mage mockingly asked.

"Yep!" Mage nearly facefaulted at her reply.

Parasoul coughed and got their attention. She was seated at the desk with Arselite by her side "I have gathered you two here for a favor. I understand that you're, for the lack of a better term, products of Avian's works."

"That's correct." Mage confirmed.

"Then we'll need your help regarding the hunt for the Skullgirl." Arselite told them.

"Well, we are lookin' for her." Peacock said.

"Yes, so it would be wise to join forces." Mage said.

"That was easy, we'd thought you'd need more persuasion than that." Arselite said.

"Looking for the Skullgirl is their mission, so it would make sense." Parasoul told him.

"Oh, right. But I thought you didn't like authoritative figures like us." Arselite said.

"I don't, she does." Mage pointed to his childhood friend.

"It's true, but I want to find her fast." Peacock proclaimed.

"_Wow, she's actually taking her work seriously. I think she finally deserves some respect._" Mage thought.

"If I don't find her fast enough, I'll miss my show!"

"_And now she lost that respect._"

"Alright, I think it'll be wise if we showed you what she looks like." Mage flinched at Parasoul's words "Commander, the picture."

"_Oh no, if she looks at that picture, she'll-_"

"No need, I want the appearance of her to be a surprised." Everyone looked at Peacock "I love surprises."

"Well, I guess it's alright, I think." Arselite said.

Mage internally sighed "That was close." He muttered.

"Say somethin', kid?" Arselite asked.

"Uh, I said I hope we start tomorrow, because I'm relatively tired." Mage lied "And don't call me kid."

"Well, we're in no immediate danger, so some rest should be fine." Parasoul said.

"Besides, you'll need to be in full form in case we run into her." Arselite mentioned.

"Alright, then, if we're all done here, back to junk heaven." Peacock said as she left.

"She is...an interesting person." Parasoul commented.

"She sure is special." Arselite followed.

"Yeah, she's rather weird." Mage said "But I guess that's part of her charm."

Suddenly Peacock yelled "Oh, I know, let's raid the fridge!"

All three sweat-dropped "Okay, maybe it's not." Mage then left for the door "I'll take my leave. Good night, Commander, Princess."

"Good night."

"Have a good sleep, kid." Mage looked back at Arselite before leaving "He really hates that word." He then noticed Parasoul thinking hard "Is something the matter Your Majesty?"

Parasoul looked at the Commander "It's just that those two were familiar."

"Maybe you've seen them in a public area?"

"No, that's not it." Parasoul then leaned back in her chair and crosses her arms "I can't think right now, not with the Skullgirl ordeal at the moment." She then softly yawned.

"Maybe you need to sleep as well, now that I mention in it," He stretched his arms "so should I." He started to leave when...

"Excuse me, Commander." He turned around "Would you like to join me for some wine?"

"...Huh?" He said.

"Well, I can't really sleep without having at least a glass of wine, and I wondered if you wanted one as well." She said.

Arselite then blushed and scratched his head "Uh, well, I-I'd love to, but I don't think I should have any alcohol right before I sleep. P-plus, I'm kind of tired." He lied nervously "G-good night, Milady."

Parasoul then held her chin "Why is he always nervous around me? Is he afraid, maybe?" She then reached for a wine and a glass "Well, I guess I can't do much about him at the moment."

Unbeknownst to her, someone was looking at her from outside the window "So, she's one of the future candidates?" Said spy looked down "Please, when you finally come across this power, please fight it." And the figure left.


	16. Meeting Reasons

**Meeting Reasons**

* * *

"Uh, where the…"

Walker sat up from a lying position and looked around. After rubbing his eyes and scanning his area a second time, he found himself in a medium sized room. It had two beds, which were all occupied, a balcony that had the view of the river, and a wardrobe. Plus, right by the door in front to the outside was a bathroom. Also the ooccupants on the bed were Walker and Francis, who still slept. Both of them were covered in blankets and had their shirts off.

"Finally, you're up." Shirts, not parasites.

"Stalker, the hell happened to me?"

"You got shocked until you fainted." Stalker reminded.

"Right." He looked to his left and saw Francis "Where's Filia and Cerebella?"

"They went to the hot springs."

"Eh?"

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. They told me we were at a pretty popular inn, Riverside Inn, I think." The parasite answered.

"Right, famous for its hot springs." Walker got out of his bed but stumbled a bit "Damn, looks like I'm still not fixed."

"So, what're you gonna do?"

"Walk it off. Stalker."

"Got ya." Stalker morphed himself until he became Walker's jacket again.

"Already I feel better."

He then exits the room and finds another room. It looked like a giant living room with a Japanese table in the middle. There was another door beside the one he exit and two more in front of him. There was also a door through a small hallway.

"There's the way out." Walker commented.

He exits to a hallway that led to other rooms. He goes left and reaches a set of stairs, which lead down to the lobby. He then exits the lobby and is greeted with starry skies.

"I still don't get why people are afraid of night. It's pretty sweet to look at."

"They ain't brave enough."

"Ya got that." Walker then started walking around. He looked around to see a few late-night fishers and a few passerbys "This place is sure peaceful."

"Unless you count our little brawl, and the Skullgirl." Stalker said.

"Right, right. But it still looks like a pretty serene place." Walker looked around "I always did wanted to go here as a kid."

"You know, you never really did talk about your past, kid."

"I didn't exactly have a happy childhood." Walker looked out to the river "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Hm, fine."

* * *

Back at the inn...

"Grgh, damned lightning boy." Francis stood up and looked around his surrounding. He realized he had his shirt off and looked around for the Serpent Armes, his shirt. After finding it on the floor next to him, he put it on and left the room "Pretty nice place." He then entered the room diagonally across from the one he exit. He entered and found...

"MMPH!" There were two people occupying those beds. One of them was covered in blankets the other was a familiar feline tied up.

"...Fortune?" Francis asked. Ms Fortune nods her head "This feels slightly awkward. Then again, it is my job to bring you to our HQ, so it's no surprise that Miss Cirque would tie you up. Where is she anyway?"

"Mmmm, mmMMMmm."

"Right, gagged." Francis commented. He reached for the gag in her mouth and took it out.

"Thanks, now can you untie me?" She asked.

"No." Francis answered with a smile.

"Oh come on!" She tried to break it by herself "This is unfair! I'm just an innocent kitty! I wouldn't hurt a canary!"

"Yeah, tell that to the faces of the Medici men you tried to cut off." Francis told her.

Ms Fortune stopped and laughed sheepishly "In my defense, they deserved it."

"You're the one that started it."

Ms Fortune sighed "You all are really crazy. The circus girl ties up this poor kitty and decided to keep that mutt and Mr Electric Needles, too. It's a cat-tastrophe, I tell you, A CAT-TASTROPHE!"

Francis widened his eyes "What?!"

"Uh, it's cat-tastrophe."

"No, no, the before that."

"Oh, she kept the ninja dog and the robotic guy in the other room."

"...Stay here." Francis coldly told her and left.

"I'm tied up, you moron! Although, if you could leave a yarn that'd be fine." Ms Fortune said.

Francis only looked back before leaving the room.

"You know, you could've said no!" Francis heard from the other side of the door.

He looked at the door ahead and went to it. He opened it and looked to see the two other men from the bridge. He walked up to the bed where Kage slept. Francis only stared down at him. And raised his fist.

* * *

Around the same time, Walker walked back into the hotel and saw Filia and Cerebella. Filia noticed him "Walker."

Cerebella, with her hat in her hand, noticed him soon after "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"

"Resting? Tch, that ain't for me. I heal faster when I walk it off."

Cerebella shook her head as she smiled "Typical tough guy." She looked back up "What about Francis?"

"Pretty Boy is still sleep-Wait, did you call him Francis?"

Cerebella blushed at this "Y-yeah, why?"

Walker crossed his arm "I see. You're warming up to him, aren't you?"

"Hey, it's not like that!" Cerebella folded her arms in an X shape.

"Don't deny it. I guess he is right when he says that he can make any woman fall for him."

"I told you, it's nothing like that."

"Really, you're blushing." Samson added.

"You are." Filia followed.

"Moptop!"

"Speaking of Francis, when do you think he'll be up?" Filia asked Walker.

"He's not as tough as me," He bragged while pointing to himself with his thumb "but he should be up by now."

Filia, Samson and Cerebella had shocked expressions on their face "Really?!"

"Yeah, why?" Walker asked worringly as he looked at their face.

"Well, we kind of brought everyone on the bridge to the room." Cerebella told him.

"So?"

"Including that ninja."

...

...

...

...

...

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Walker yelled "What the hell were you two thinking?!"

"We had good intentions?" Filia replied.

"We have to get back now!" Walker yelled as he ran upstairs. He then came back downstairs "I forgot, what's our room number?"

"14." Filia and Cerebella replied while they sweatdropped.

"Right!" He ran up followed by the two girls.

They reached the room and opened it hastily. They saw that one of the door is open.

"Oh crap, that's where the ninja mutt is!" Samson said. They ran in, expecting to be late. But instead...

"Francis, don't do anything you'll...regret." Walker started going before seeing Francis just standing there with his fist through the bed, right next to the head of Kage "Francis?"

Francis lifted his arm out and just stood there with his eyes shadowed by his beret. He then walked passed his three companions and left the room while slamming the door shut.

"Someone mind telling me what just happened?" Stalker finally asked after moments of silence.

"I'm not sure myself." Samson said while scratching his "head".

"Should we go after him?" Filia asked.

"Nah, leave him. He'd be better off cooling down on his own." Walker advised.

"You sure?"

"Trust me, let's leave him alone, both for his sake and ours."

They heard groan from behind and found Kage coming too. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He looked around until he landed his eyes on the three people. He blinked, then widened his eyes "Wait, don't try to-"

"Woah, relax, we're not the ones trying to kill you." Walker had his hands out.

Kage took deep breath and exhaled "Forgive me. I'm still on edge after what had happened."

"I don't think you'd have to worry about that now." He pointed to the hole on Kage's bed."

Kage sweatdropped "Oh, I see. Where...is he, at the moment?"

* * *

Outside, Francis just walked grumpily while gritting his teeth.

"_Where's Pops?_" The voice of a child in his mind started.

"_Francis...I'm sorry._" Replied an older voice.

"_Sorry. What do ya have to be sorry about? Where's is he?_"

"_Francis-_"

"_Tell me where my dad is!_"

"_He...he..._"

"_No. Please, no. He didn't...did he?__ No. That ain't true. THAT'S NOT TRUE! IT CAN'T BE!_"

"_Francis! Come back!_"

"_Dad! Where are you?! Dad! Answer me, please! DAD!_"

"RAAAAAAAAGH!" Francis slammed his fist to a nearby wall. He breathed heavily "I had the chance. I had the goddamn chance! Why the hell did I chicken out?!"

"_I'm stopping you from doing something you'll regret._" Walker's voice started.

"Dammit, Walker. You had to say that, didn't you, you son of a bitch?" He turned around and slided down the wall he sat against "Dammit. The hell is wrong with me?" Tears started flowing out of his eyes "Why the hell did all of that had to happen? Why, goddammit?" He slammed his fist softly on the ground repeatedly and continuously muttered "Dammit."

* * *

Back in the hotel room, Walker, Filia, Cerebella, and Kage, without his mask, were sitting around the Japanese table. They were all drinking tea that they ordered out of a traditional cup.

"I really have to apologize how pretty boy acted towards you." Cerebella said.

"No need. He did have a right to be." Kage responded.

"Right. That whole ordeal a few years ago." Walker commented "What did happen, though. From what I can tell, Francis' old man was the top dog around the time. Not many people would go up against someone like that, let alone a kid."

"That was because...I was blinded by fury."

All three of them...five of them had curious expressions on their face "What do you mean?" Filia asked.

Kage looked down "The man that I killed, I killed him because...he...he...he took away my family."

"Huh?"

"That man, he mercilessly slaughtered my brothers and father. The only thing I could remember, were the screams of my brother, and my father smiling at me even at the brink of death." Kage sat there silent, as well as everyone else "And the worst of it," Kage started "I felt even worse when I killed him."

"So that's why you wanted to explain." Filia said to him.

Kage nodded "Although it partially might be because I did not want to die, but I do want him to know that nothing can come out of revenge."

"Francis is an arrogant guy. You'll have a hard time trying to explain to him." Walker said.

"But...I must at least tell him why." Kage said.

"And you will. Don't worry." Filia assured.

"And even if you do die, we'll just pass the message." Samson said.

"Uh, I don' think that's reassuring." Stalker commented on his kin's comment.

"But I wonder, why did he stop?" Cerebella asked.

"Maybe he's starting to think clearly." Walker guessed.

"By the way, are you sure you don't want to get him?" Kage asked.

"Do you want him here?"

"Well, no. But then again, it is not my choice."

"Yeah. It's his." Walker yawned and stood up "I don't know about you, but I'm actually gettin' tired."

"Yeah, I guess we should get some sleep now. It's been tiring." Cerebella turned to Kage "I hope you don't mind your roommate being that psycho."

"The Lab cyborg? No. In fact, I have questions for him that I would like to ask in the morning."

"You brought that thing here?" Walker asked.

"Don't worry, we tied him up with chains." Cerebella said.

"Uh...where did you-"

"Get the chains? Found them in an alley on the way here."

"Ooookay. Well, I'm hittin' the hay. Night."

"Good night." Filia replied as Walker closed the door. She turned to her roommate "Let's go."

"Right." They both went to their room, but Cerebella turned back "Aren't you going to bed?" She asked Kage.

Said ninja looked back at her "No. I will stay up for a while."

"Alright. Good night." She entered the room and closed the door.

Kage sat there in silence "_Perhaps my instincts were right. Something major will happen. And soon._" The sound of a door opened and in came...

"You." Francis was at the doorway.

There was tension in the room and silence for a while "Please, let me explain first-"

"Don't." Francis coldly replied "I'm not in the mood to hear your reasons." He walked up to him "Nor am I in the mood to kill you." He walked towards his room and entered.

Kage could only stare before looking back down again "_I have to let him know. I can't let him kill me until I let him know. But..._" Kage sighed "_The parasitic boy was right, that man is arrogant._" He sipped his tea and sat there for the rest of the night.

* * *

Peacock and mage fell asleep in their rooms. Peacock was snoring loudly, which didn't bode well with Mage.

"_Good Lord, how can anyone sleep through this?_" Mage sat up and looked at his long-time friend. He kept thinking about how she would react to knowing who the Skullgirl is, fearing that she would react badly to it "_I need another walk._"

* * *

Mage walked around the base, again. Few guards were up. The ones that were were patrolling and keeping out, some even yawned. Mage marveled at the Egrets devotion to their jobs. He came across someone sitting on a roof and smoking.

"Captain." Mage called out to the smoking unmasked Arselite.

"Hey, never thought I'd find you out here again in a short while, kid." Arselite smiled.

"Do I have to keep telling you not to call me a kid?" Mage irritatedly replied.

Arselite chuckled "Sorry. It'll take some time to not call you a kid. By the way, why are you up?"

"If this has anything to do with my age-"

"Regardless if you're an adult or child, everyone needs their sleep. So what's keepin' you up?" Arselite asked again.

Mage sighed and used his magic to fly up to the roof "It's just that...I have a lot on my mind."

"You did look troubled when yo got here, and when I met you out here before, and during the meeting that happened. Something big is apparently eating you."

The young magician scratched the back of his head "It was that noticeable, huh?"

"The only that didn't seem to notice was the Argus user."

"That...doesn't surprise me." Mage turned and sat down next to the Commander.

"I know it's not my place, but do you wanna talk about it?"

Mage looked athim, then back down and sighed "I'd have to tell someone sooner or later." He took out the picture of the Skullgirl.

"So that's where it went."

"Sorry for taking it from you. I saw it on the ground." Mage apologized.

"It's not a problem." Arselite scratched his chin "But it seems that it means something to you if you picked it up."

"It does. You see, me and Patricia, we both knew the Skullgirl."

Arselite was shocked "You do?!"

"Yeah." Mage placed the picture back in his pocket "All three of us were orphans, at a Medici orphanage. All of us, including the other orphans, had no one but each other. The younger ones looked up to us, looked to us for support. Everything was fine...until that day came."

"Day?"

Mage sighed again "Peacock had always tend to get on the Medici's nerves. When they had enough they...they..."

"You don't have to say it if it's hard." Arselite had his hands on Mage's shoulders.

Mage looked at him "Thank you." He looked back down and continued "When I found out, I tried to get her out. There, I discovered that I had magic, albeit, it was small. I had to get out, but I wanted to take someone else with me."

"The Skullgirl."

Mage nodded "Yes, Marie. But, she said she wanted to stay, because she couldn't leave the others alone. She urged me and Patricia to go get help for ourselves. I wanted to take her with us, but she chose to stay for the others' sake. Years later, after getting augmentations, I went to look for the Skullgirl. I found her, and an old friend at the same time."

"So, what did you do?"

"Nothing. I couldn't really do anything. I was too shocked. The only thing I remembered was that she left telling me to stop." Mage tightened his fists "I could've done something done, but I didn't. So I swore to myself that I'd try to bring her back."

"I'd hate to tell you, but I don't think there's a way to revert her back. She's the Skullgirl, chances are that sooner or later she'll..."

"I know." Mage looked forward "But I have to try. I won't give up easily." He looked towards Arselite "Commander, I have to ask you that you tell no one, not even the Princess, about what I said."

Arselite put his hands behind his head "Something like that is hard to keep. But," He smirked "if you want it to be kept secret, then it's fine."

Mage smiled "Thank you." He yawned "I think I might try to sleep again."

"Yeah, you definitely should. We'll need you to be fresh tomorrow."

"What about you?"

"I'm a trained soldier, I'm used to staying up late and working hard in the morning."

"Are you certain?"

Arselite put his mettalic fist on his chest "Don't worry, besides, I can always take a power nap."

"Very well then. Good night, Commander." Mage floated back down and walked back to his room.

Arselite continued smoking "_That's one hell of a story. But,_" Arselite blew a puff of smoke "How will this affect the mission?" He muttered.


	17. Meeting at Crossroads

**Meeting at Crossroads**

* * *

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

The hosts, the Medicis, the beastkin, and the projects rode in the same limo the two latter pairs came in. The air felt really awkward after what transpired in Little Innsmouth.

"…Tell me something, will ya?" Spike asked, tied in chains.

"Yeah, what?" Walker replied.

"Why the hell am I being dragged along for this joyless ride?"

Filia sighed "Are you always this sarcastic?"

"Yeah, got a problem?"

"We all do!" She retorted.

Spike scoffed "Tough luck, parasite meat. Oh, and you didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine." Kage told him "If I must be dragged along for this, you're coming with me until you answer them."

"So either way, I'm stuck with you?" Kage nodded "Just freakin' great."

Walker scratched his head, then turned to Filia and a knocked out Painwheel "How's it-she doing?"

"She's still out. Whatever happened must've been bad." Filia answered.

"That's what happens when you get hit by 5000 volts and survive." Spike said.

"Shocking." Ms Fortune, who had her pieces separated and tied in chains, joked.

"I swear, another pathetic pun, and I'm zapping all of your nine lives!" Spike threatened.

Ms Fortune's head sunk in to the seat, afraid "N-no need to be harsh!"

"Would you have stopped?" Cerebella asked.

Ms Fortune pondered for a second "Not really." She replied with a smile.

"You're a weird-ass pussy." Samson commented.

"HAH. Good one." Ms Fortune commented.

"That wasn't exactly a joke." Samson replied.

"Grgh. When the hell can I get off and away from you idiots?" Spike harshly asked.

Walker, who was across from Spike, reached to him and grabbed him by his neck "Listen, you little punk, I'm trying to resist the urge to punch you, cuz' I'm about sick of hearing your bitching. Another whine out of you, and I'll crack your metallic head in two."

Spike scoffed "Just try it, meat head."

Walker pulled his fist back but Kage grabbed hold of him "What are you-"

"It's not worth it. Suppress your murderous anger for this demon." Kage glared at the project "Besides, if you're as strong as you claim, I'll never get answers from him."

Walker just stared at Kage before unclenching his fist "F-fine."

Kage nodded and let go of him "Thank you." He leaned back in his seat and noticed that Francis had been glaring at him the whole time "I see you're still not willing to listen."

"Tch." Francis looked to the ground.

Kage looked down and sighed "_I have done many tasks, but this just might be the most_ _difficult._" He stared out side "_Speaking of which, I haven't reported to the Master._" He looked down and closed his eyes "_Inu, relay this message to Sensei._"

Spike sighed "Screw this, I'm taking a nap." He leaned his head back.

"_At least he stopped whining._" Walker thought.

* * *

Some where else, there's a convoy traveling to the destination of a certain threat. In a grey van was the princess and her Commander, while a carriage traveled alongside it, where the cartoon maniac and a magician traveled in.

Peacock twitched and Mage noticed this "Something the matter?"

"I just have a sudden urge to kill a sort of out-of-this-world writer." Peacock answered coldly.

Mage put on a blank face "...Huh?"

"Hm, probably nothing." Peacock said with a smile.

"Okay." Mage awkwardly replied.

"By the way, Max."

"What is it?" Mage asked.

"Before we got ambushed, you were about to tell me the identity of the Skullgirl."

Mage had a sort of worried look on his face "Y-yes, that's correct."

"I need you to tell me who it is."

The color on Mage's face drained "I-I-I thought you wanted it to be a surprise."

"I know, but I can't contain my curiosity, after all." Peacock leaned in on Mage "So, who is it?"

Mage gulped "Well-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Mage and Peacock directed their attention to a scream from the front of the convoy.

* * *

"Watch out!" Francis yelled to the driver.

The limo screeched to a halt, as did the convoy in front of them, as there were two people standing in between them. These are Valentine and Krauser "It seems we have their attention." The latter spoke.

* * *

Back at the carriage...

"What in the name of Sam Hill happened?!" Peacock yelled.

"I don't know, let's check." Mage said as he exited.

"Uh, hey, wait!" Peacock ran after him.

At the same time, Parasoul and Arselite exited the van "What is going on?" Parasoul demandingly asked.

Mage noticed the princess and replied "I don't know, but we were going to check."

"So haul your asses!" Peacock ran ahead.

"That's one smart-mouthed project." Arselite commented before they ran after her to the front.

* * *

Back at the limo...

"The hell?!" Walker cursed.

"What happened, I was having a good nap." Spike said calmly.

They all got out of the van and saw the two in their paths "Who the freaking hell are you guys?!" Walker asked crudely.

"My, my, is that anyway to talk to a lady?" Valentine replied.

"Walker, let me handle this." Francis pushed Walker aside and coughed "Hello, mademoiselle." He said in his French accent.

"Oh, crap, not this again." Walker facepalmed.

"I guess it's better than having him kicking our asses." Stalker said.

"...That's true." Walker replied.

Valentine giggled "What a gentleman."

"Yes, better than that ruffian over there." Francis pointed to Walker with his thumb.

"Who the hell are you callin' a ruffian?!"

Kage blinked "I'm going to assume this is his usual character."

"Yep." Cerebella replied.

Krauser ignored them and looked to Spike "So this is where you ran off to."

"Eh, these guys were being too damn persistent."

"Where's Painwheel?"

Spike tilted his head towards the limo "In there."

"Good." Krauser approached the limo, but was stopped by Walker and Kage.

"Where do you think you're going, Ass Face?" Walker asked.

"To pick up a package."

"That girl?" Kage calmly asked.

"HAH, you think that thing's a girl? It's nothing more than an abomination now, and a rebellious one at that."

"I guess we can agree on somethings." Spike stated.

"Hey, she may look terrifying, but she is still a girl!" Filia yelled at the two.

"Keep your mouth shut, Meat Legs." Spike insulted.

"Meat Legs?!" Filia ran and kicked Spike in the head "You take it back!"

Spike, who lied on the ground, launched himself back up "I don't do take-backs." He turned his head towards Krauser who picked up Painwheel in the midst of the confusion "You mind taking these things off?"

Walker noticed this "Hey, put her down!"

"Not likely."

"Do it, or I'll shove that mask straight up your ass!" He threatened.

Krauser scoffed "A challenge, then? Very well." He turned his head to his nurse companion "Valentine."

Valentine approached him "What is it?"

"Take Painwheel and Porcupain back to the Labs, I have pests I need to deal with."

"Really, but I'd rather stay and fight too. These guys look fun to play with, especially the boys."

"Damn, Valentine..." Spike muttered.

"Is that so, madame?" Francis flirted.

"I don't know how I should respond to this..." Walker muttered.

"Same here, bub." Stalker replied.

"Enough of this, give the girl back. It's obvious that she doesn't enjoy being in your custody." Kage demanded.

"Well, Krauser..." Valentine asked.

"...Very well, free Porcupain."

Valentine nodded and took out her cleaver as she cut the chains surrounding Spike "Thanks, Valentine." He sprouted his spikes "And for the last goddamn time, Krauser, it's Spike."

"Doesn't matter, and I freed you so you can take Painwheel back to the Lab."

"What, leaving me out of the fun?"

"Do you honestly want to stay and fight?" Valentine asked him.

Spike retracted his claws "Heh, good point. Don't take too long." He picked up Painwheel and walked away "Let's go, freak."

"Wait!" Walker was about to after him when Krauser smacked him away "Grgh, freaking hunk o' junk."

"Hm." Krauser eyed him for awhile "You'd make a great testing subject."

"What?"

Krauser softly chuckled in a menacing way "Yes, I already have many experiments in mind to perform on you."

Walker cracked his neck "Sorry, I don't intend to be anyone's guinea pig, especially not yours."

Valentine was looking around "Now, who should I take on? How about you?" She said as she pointed to Filia.

"Huh?" Filia was somewhat caught offguard by this.

The others watched from afar "Should we help?" Cerebella asked.

"That'd be wise, but we have other matters to attend to." Kage said as he pointed to Parasoul and the others.

"Don't move." Parasoul ordered them as the Black Egrets aimed at them.

"I got this." Francis walked forward and used his French accent "Princess, I assure you, this is nothing more than a mere understanding. Perhaps we should explain over some drinks." Parasoul looked to Areselite and nodded. Arselite shifted his arm to a machine gun and aimed at Francis "So much for peaceful communication." Francis muttered.

"We were following the Skullgirl's path, and we find a couple of Medici along the way." Arselite said "I don't know if that's good or bad."

"Either way, now that we found you, you're coming with us." Parasoul said.

"Guess everyone likes the French man-OW!" Cerebella smacked Francis across the head "Was that necessary?"

"Not really, I just wanted to do it."

"You..."

"Now, will we do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Arselite threatened.

"Oh, oh, I vote hard!" Peacock said as she raised her arm.

"Uh, Patricia, this isn't exactly up to you..." Mage told her.

"It does not matter, either way." Kage said as he walked forward "It is obvious that you won't listen to our explanations. So defending ourselves is the [ath we shall take."

Francis marches forward and grabs Kage by his scarf "Don't go deciding that on your own."

"Pretty-boy, he's got a point." Cerebella reminded him.

Francis scoffs and lets go of him "Fine, guess I'll get this over with."

"Hey, what about mew?" Ms Fortune rolled up to the other three with her pieces...somehow.

"Can I trust that you won't run away?" Kage asked.

Ms Fortune pondered for a moment "Cross my heart and hope to die...which is impossible for me."

"Fine." Kage snapped his fingers and shadows sliced around the chains letting Ms Fortune reassemble her body.

"Much better." Ms Fortune went up to her temporary comrades "I would run, but I don't see a reason to pass up a chance like this."

"4-in-1 deal. Not bad." Arselite said as he put his mask on. Mage also had his hat and mask magically appear on him.

"An illusionist, I see." Kage commented on Mage.

"I'd prefer it if you called me a magician." He made his wand appear and had the blade come out.

"Very well then, Magician. Let's if your tricks can beat mine." Kage drew his short sword and took a stance.

"Hey, a putty-tat!" Peacock yelled as she pointed as Ms Fortune "Is it true that cats have nine lives?"

"Yep."

"Alright, let's see how many I can take." Peacock drew her revolver.

"Don't pet on it."

Francis and Cerebella stood side-by-side "Guess that leaves you and me with them, eh, madame?" Francis said in his accent.

Cerebella groaned "Let's just get this over with." She put Vice-Versa on her head as it expanded.

"Hm, fine." Francis pounded his fists together "_As long as I get to vent out a little steam._" He thought as he looked at Kage. he turned back to his opponents and entered a boxing stance "Bring it, hotshots."

"Ready, Commader?" Parasoul whipped out her pistol.

"Ready." Arselite twirled his knives and rushed forward.

* * *

Spike was casually walking on the road towards the Labs "I guess it's a good thing I got out of there. I don't wanna deal with them anymore, and I've already wasted enough of my napping time." Spike scratched his helmet "I swear, sometimes I really wish I was an only chil-" He suddenly stopped "What did I just...only child?" He tuned back to where the fights were. Suddenly he held his heads as images and voices flashed through his mind of a young Spike with a man, a woman, and a boy slightly bigger than him, all three who's faces are blurred.

"_Happy Birthday, __Spike._"

"_Happy Birthday, Son._"

"_Happy Birthday, Little Bro._"

Spike pulled his hand away from his head and looked at it "_I...I have a brother._" He looked back from where he walked from "_And he's over there._"

* * *

Notes: Oooooh, I wonder who this mysterious brother is? Anyway, once again, major apologies for the long updates. Sometimes I get really lazy, and I usually ave to wait a few days after writing a chapter for other stories. I don't why, but it works. Once again, please review, it would help if there's some stuff I can improve on.


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